HANCOCK, Harold William Charles
| Service Number: | 116938 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 August 1942 |
| Last Rank: | Leading Aircraftman |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia, 2 March 1924 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Terang State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Munitions Worker |
| Died: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 30 July 1978, aged 54 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria New Lawn Area Wall Niches, Wall S, Row 10, Niche 19 |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 7 Aug 1942: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 116938 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Jan 1946: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 116938 |
Help us honour Harold William Charles Hancock's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Leading Aircraftman Harold William Charles Hancock (Service No:116938) enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne on 7 August 1942 as an Aircraftman I - mustered as General Hand, re mustered as Vulcaniser. ACI Hancock was served with Station HQ, 2 Aircraft Depot and 452 Squadron, and in 1943 with 326 Radar Station in Broome and Cape Levique. Promoted to Leading Aircraftman in 1944, he served with 48 Radar Station in Jurien Bay and with 3 Aircraft Construction Squadron in the Philippines (Mindoro), Morotai and Balikapan (15 October 1944 - 7 September 1945). LAC Hancock was attached to 1 Stores Depot at Discharge on 11 January 1946. His father Harold served in WWI and WWII, and brother Ivor served in WWII (and was a PoW).
Billy was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1924, second son of Harold Charles Hancock (b1900 in Wiltshire, England) and his first wife Myrtle Irene Butt (b1899 in Melbourne, Victoria). Harold had immigrated in 1911, arriving in Fremantle, Western Australia with his parents and siblings on board the Ophir and moving to Balingup. Harold worked as a Sleeper Hewer in Mallalyup via Balingup before enlisting in the AIF in 1915, and on his return from War in 1919, worked as a Telegraph Messenger in Greenbushes. In 1920 Harold moved to Melbourne, where he was working as a Railway Shunter when he and Myrtle married in 19120. Harold worked with Victoria Rail as a Shunter and Repairer in Melbourne, Pura Pura and Terang. Following Myrtle's death in 1938, Harold remarried, and he and Renie settled in Melbourne where, after WWII, Harold worked as a Clerk and then as a Watchman.
Billy started work in Melbourne as a Labourer with Quality Knitting Mills in Essendon, and was a Munitions Worker at the Commonwealth Explosives Factory in 1942 when he enlisted in the RAAF. Following his Discharge in 1946, Billy returned to Melbourne, where he was an Aircraft Worker and Driver. By 1951 he was a Fireman in Melbourne when he married Jean Adeline Ellison (b1927 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Jean was a Process Worker in Essendon. Billy and Jean settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Billy was a Fireman until his death in 1978. Jean died in 1989.
Click images to start slideshow.