Frank William McCabe was born in Bootle, Liverpool on the 24th September 1920. He left school at 14 and went to work as a Telegraph Boy after passing an entry exam. At 15 he went dancing at local halls to learn basic dance steps before he could afford to take lessons. He also learned to sneak a pint of beer, smoke and chat up girls. As a Telegraph Boy he went to night school two nights a week for four years training to be a Telegraphist. However when he finally qualified there were no Telegraphist jobs available so he became a Postman.

In 1938 he joined the Territorial Army. His mother was horrified because war was in sight. In 1939 his Regiment was called up. He always remembered how his mother begged him not to go but he was too excited and couldn't wait. He thought the war would only last a few weeks. By the time he was posted overseas in 1942 he had been made a troop sergeant with three tanks, eight men and one officer to look after. He served in the 40th Royal Tank Regiment as part of the 23rd Armoured Brigade in the 8th Armoured Division.

His first action was in the Western Desert where 42 out of 50 tanks were lost. His officer was killed and Frank was made an acting troop officer until another could be found. In this role he had to attend officer briefings and met General Montgomery. He remembered that Monty had 'a funny little squeaky voice' and that he vowed to sacrifice all his tanks if necessary to get the infantry through.

Frank McCabe was wounded at El Alamein when his tank was destroyed when it struck a land mine. While recovering in hospital he learned that he was likely to be posted to another unit on his recovery. So he quietly walked out of the hospital and made his way to the depot where new trucks were being delivered to the front line. He simply joined a queue of potential drivers. No questions were asked and he was given a truck to deliver. Instead he drove it straight to his old unit in the line and was back with his mates again. Then he was given a new tank and went through the rest of bitter fighting of North African campaign against General Rommels' Afrika Corps.