James Dossetter enlisted into the Royal West Kent Regiment.Private Dossetter volunteered for airborne forces and undertook parachute training course 121 at RAF Ringway between 18 June and 7 July 1944.

After qualifying as a military parachutist he was initially posted to No1 Airborne Forces Holding Unit. He was then posted to 8 Platoon, C Company, 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion and served in the Ardennes Campaign, the Rhine Crossing, the advanced to the Baltic, the Far East and Palestine.

Pte Dossetter demobbed in October 1946.