Ronald Lindsay POCKNALL

POCKNALL, Ronald Lindsay

Service Numbers: VX139837, V265467
Enlisted: 24 December 1938
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 37/52 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF
Born: Maffra, Victoria, Australia, 22 April 1913
Home Town: Maffra, Wellington, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Buttermaker
Died: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 August 1993, aged 80 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

24 Dec 1938: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX139837
4 Apr 1943: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V265467, 52nd Infantry Battalion, ex Townsville for Fall River per Tarooma
15 Apr 1943: Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 37/52 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF, 'in the field' - New Guinea
6 Jul 1944: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX139837, 37/52 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF, ex Madang for Sydney per Gorgon
3 Mar 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX139837, 37/52 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF, ex Brisbane for Jacquinot Bay per Katoomba
16 Aug 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX139837, 37/52 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF, emplaned ex Cape Hoskins for Brisbane via Finschafen
24 Oct 1945: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX139837

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Ronald Lindsay Pocknall (Service No:VX139837) initially enlisted in the ACMF (Service No:V265467) on 24 December 1938 and served with 37th and 52nd Infantry Battalions (37/52nd amalgamated Battalion) in New Guinea where he transferred to the AIF 'in the field' on 15 April 1943. Private Pocknall was Discharged on 24 october 1945. Following his death in 1993, Private Pocknall's son wrote to the Army Records Office requesting Service Medals - 'While he was alive he would never allow any member of his family to do so, nor do it himself' (NAA).

Born in 1913 in Maffra Victoria, Ronald was the eldest of nine children of Leonard Albert Pocknall (b1884 in Dunedin, New Zealand) and Annie Maxwell (b1886 in Maffra, Victoria). Leonard (a Carpenter) had arrived from New Zealand in 1907, and he and Annie married in 1912 at Stratford, Victoria. They settled in Maffra where they raised their family and Leonard worked as a Carpenter - five of their sons served in WWII.

Ronald was working as a Buttermaker in Maffra in 1935 when he married Edna Donnithorne Estoppey (b1918 in Melbourne, Victoria). Ronald and Edna settled in Maffra where Ronald was a Factory Hand. In the early 1950s they moved to Melbourne where Ronald worked as a Storeman. Ronald died in 1993 and Edna in 1997.

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