David Henry Clarke enlisted

I just accessed my father's WW2 war record (I've been waiting for it to be digitised) and here is a photo of him on the day he enlisted. He was 19 years and seven months old. There's such a marked difference between this photo and the one of him in his slouch hat. Obviously he lost weight because his face is slimmer. I can only think that soldiers were photographed with eyes closed to make them identifiable if they died. I also discovered that whilst on wire inspection duty in 1945 he placed his Owen machine gun on the ground. Although he had set it to 'safety' it discharged a bullet that penetrated his right hip and groin. A major injury that terminated his 5.5 years of service. I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that he was in the war for nineteen hundred and seventy two days.