Fred Lockyer has spent most of his childhood til the age of 16 in the Swan Native and Half Caste Mission (now Swanleigh). I May 1915, he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was assigned to the 7th Reinforcements of the 10th Light Horse Regiment. Embarking on the 2 July, Lockyer was in action at Gallipoli from October to December when he was evacuated to Alexandria with other Allied troops. After Gallipoli, Lockyer saw action in France, until 1917 when he had suffered injuries from a shell explosion at Boulogne. He was later evacuated to England where he was attached to the Australian ANZAC Ordinance Corps Depots at Millwall and Weymouth. He remaind with the Corps until he was granted indefinite leave.
