21961
COCKS, Leslie Robert
| Service Number: | 758 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 January 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 11th Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, February 1895 |
| Home Town: | Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Keswick Repatriation Hospital, Adelaide, 1 April 1939, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
West Terrace Cemetery (AIF Section) Section: LO, Road: 1BS, Site No: 20 |
| Memorials: | Mount Gambier St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Trooper, 758, 11th Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 758, 11th Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 758, 11th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Borda, Adelaide | |
| 22 Oct 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Trooper, 758, 11th Light Horse Regiment |
Help us honour Leslie Robert Cocks's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
758 Trooper Leslie Robert Cocks of Mount Gambier, South Australia had been employed as a labourer prior to his enlistment for War Service on the 6th of January 1915 and was allocated to reinforcements for the 11th Light Horse Regiment 1st AIF.
Embarked for Egypt and further training Leslie departed Australia on the 23rd of June, and by the 29th of August, having been transferred to the 9th Light Horse Regiment he arrived at the trenches of Gallipoli. Due to sickness Leslie was evacuated from Gallipoli back to Egypt where he arrived for hospitalisation on the 5th of October, and after his recovery he was sent back to join the 11th Light Horse and was taken back on strength during the end of February 1916.
Leslie’s service in the desert campaigning against the Turkish forces would be continuous aside a period of time spent in a rest camp at Port Said from the 27th of November 1917 until he returned to his regiment in the field on the 21st of June 1918 . Sickness continued to interrupt Leslie’s service and he was evacuated for a third time due to illness on the 4th of August, and would remain away from his Unit in hospital and convalescence until the 7th of September.
Following the War’s end, Leslie would return to Australia in August 1919 and received his official discharge from the 1st AIF on the 22nd of October 1919. After his being re-entered into civilian life, Leslie's untimely death at the age of 44 occurred on the 1st of April 1939, whilst a patient at the Keswick Repatriation Hospital, after which he was formally laid to rest within West Terrace Cemetery, South Australia.
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