Frank Ronald POCKNEE

Frank Ronald POCKNEE Update Details

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POCKNEE, Frank Ronald

Service Number:	401663
Enlisted:	28 March 1941
Last Rank:	Flying Officer
Last Unit:	No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)
Born:	Tatura, Victoria, Australia, 29 February 1912
Home Town:	Oakleigh, Monash, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	School Teacher
Died:	Prisoner of War, Rabaul, New Britain, New Guinea, 5 March 1944, aged 32 years
Cemetery:	Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea Plot E, Row C, Collective grave 5-11 Headstone inscription reads: At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember him Roll of Honour - Dandenong
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Dandenong Shire Roll of Honour

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Flying Officer, 401663
28 Mar 1941:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 401663, Enlisted at Melbourne
28 Mar 1941:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 401663, No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)

Help us honour Frank Ronald Pocknee's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Carol Foster

Son of Charles Henry and Sarah Pocknee; husband of Amy Frances Pocknee of Burramine South, Victoria; father of Graeme Pocknee born 4 December 1939

At the time of enlisting he was teaching at the Murrumbeena State School

Plane was Catalina A24-34 of 11 Squadron

Biography contributed by David Barlow

11SQN RAAF Catalina A24-34 crash-landed in Jacquinot Bay, New Britain and all crew survived the landing.

Four members evaded capture and returned to Australia: Flying officer Ian Douglas Vaughan Ralfe 405501 / Flying officer Allan Bernard Liedl 426624 / Sergeant Richard Murray Howard 47149 / Sergeant Harold Francis Jones 71534

Six crewmen were taken POW, but only Flight Lieutenant Brian Paul Stacy 406446 survived to be eventually repatriated

Squadron Leader John Evelyn Todd 271707 died in Rabaul of disease contracted as a POW - 22 July 1944

The other four were killed in an Allied bombing raid on Rabaul 5 March 1944: Sergeant Ernest Hubert Kraehe 27791 / Flight Sergeant Henry Laurence Murphy 412621 / Sergeant Fred Woolley 43098 / Flying Officer Frank Ronald Pocknee 401663

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