Captain Warner 58th Medium Regiment R.A. Joined the Territorial Army ( under Lt. Col Geoffrey Mason (later Governor of Ipswich School) before the war broke out and was called up in 1939. There were various postings in the south and south west of England (including Hampshire Crewkerne and Bude). He was then sent to France and was subsequently rescued by one of the “small ships” at Dunkirk in 1940. He then saw active service in North Africa as part of the 8th Army through Algeria and was mentioned in despatches. He was then posted to Italy where he was awarded the D.S.O. He was manning an observation post in farm buildings at Rinaldina south west of Faenza on Dec 8th and 9th 1944. Throughout Dec 8th, the farm was heavily shelled and received many direct hits. Warner directed his battery's fire on repeated enemy attacks and succeeded in breaking them up. Later that day, the enemy worked a tank behind the farm and moved infantry in to the dead ground in the valley below. Equipped with a walkie-talkie, he crawled to a shell hole to observe. When the enemy infantry appeared, from his shell hole, he gave the unconventional order "from my location, 200 yards north -east, 10 rounds gunfire". The order was queried as the landing area of the shells was perilously close to his position. He responded that those were his orders. The gunfire caused the enemy to go to ground which enabled Warner to sprint back to the Farmhouse. The enemy were then too close to be engaged by medium artillery and Warner then called for fire on the farm buildings by 25 pounders. He also took charge of the infantrymen and they succeeded in holding back the attackers with small arms fire but the farmhouse was then completely surrounded. A German Officer ran to the farmhouse door and was shot. Warner found his marked maps with details of enemy positions and minefields which were extremely useful in subsequent operations. The shells from the British guns had damaged Warner's radio vehicle but one of the signallers ran into the open to set up a new aerial so that fire orders could continue. Further attacks were launched but repelled and after dark Warner took out a patrol to investigate and found that the enemy had withdrawn, leaving their dead and seriously wounded. The citation stressed that his courage determination and personal example undoubtedly prevented a vital point in the 8th Army’s position being overrun and contributed in great measure to the complete defeat of all enemy counter-attacks on that section of the front. It was speculated at the time that he was considered for the award of a V.C..