I was born 9th September 1931, 8 New Block, MSQ, Grand Shaft Barracks Dover, Kent. My father, Charles Henry Pocock was was serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment. I was baptized in the Garrison Church, Western Heights, Dover on October 11, 1931. The family,father, mother, my brother Derek and myself moved to Devonport (1934 - 1936) . On 20th September 1937 my parents were posted to Ismailia, Egypt. The family set sail from Souhtampton on the MV Nevassa. They remained in Egypt until the outbreak of WW2.
After the outbreak of war, sometime in May or June 1940, the families were moved to Jerusalem, billeted firstly in Allenby Barracks and later in a Convent. Later that year the families were evacuated to South Africa travelling there aboard the Empress of Canada. I, with mother and brother stayed at the Island Hotel, Isipingo, 13 miles South of Durban, until we returned to England sometime toward the end of 1943.
We lived at Waterloo Road, Aldershot with my maternal grandparents for about a year, Derek and Rodney both attended Newport Road School. In 1944 Derek enlisted as a boy into the Royal Signals, I and my mother moved to Eastbourne, and stayed with my paternal grandparents at Birling Street, Eastbourne. I attended Bedewell School until I enlisted as an Army Apprentice tradesman on February 19, 1946.
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