Able Sea. James Duncan Cocker . Merchant Navy Empire Pibroch from Chorley My late father, James Cocker was an S.O.S. on the Empire Pibroch and is on the crew list docking at San Francisco on the 21st of January 1946.
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WG Cocker . British Army WG Cocker served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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C. Cockerill . New Zealand
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FV Cockerill . British Army FV Cockerill served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Bmdr Geoffrey Thomas Cockerill . British Army Royal Artillery from West Sussex
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Linda Cockgrave . ATS My mum Linda Cockgrave was a barrage balloon rigger during the War. My Dad served with the Royal Norfolk Regiment.
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Pte. Fred Cocking . British Army Royal Army Medical Corps from Huddersfield My grandfather Fred Cocking was forty one years old at the outbreak of the Second World War but was called up for service in 1941. He lived in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and he was a railway parcels worker. He had considered himself too old to be called up for this conflict but found himself being sent to the Royal Army Medical Corps as a stretcher bearer.
He was initially based in Leeds and used to risk coming home to Huddersfield sometimes without a pass to see his family. He was sent overseas and served in the 8th Army in Africa where he nearly became a prisoner of war.
After service in Africa he found himself in France and Germany before coming home to be demobilised and returning to his job on the railways.
From my memories of him, his service with the Royal Army Medical Corps had done him no harm what so ever and his skin was always bleached brown looking from his time in Africa. His medals were the War Medal, Defence Medal, Africa Star, France and Germany Stars 1939 - 45. He retained his Medical Corps cap badge.
He lived until he was 78 years old and passed away peacefully at home.
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Gnr. George Cocking . British Army 68th Field Regiment Royal Artillery from Huddersfield My father, George Cocking, was only 17 in 1944 when his father was in the Medical Corps overseas in France.
He travelled down to Surrey to join the Guards but was sent back as being underage. In 1945 my father enlisted in the 68th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and was soon posted to India.
He found himself guarding Italian Officer prisoners and as such was made up to the rank of Temporary Sergeant in order to deal with the officer prisoners.
In 1947 my father was demobilised and returned to civilian life back in Huddersfield. After a multitude of jobs he emigrated to Australia and visited New Zealand. He returned to UK when his mother became ill and never returned. He spent most of his life as a postman in Huddersfield. He received the British War medal for WW2 service. He passed away at the age of 88 years at home.
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CFMN Ronald Cocking . Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Ronald Cocking was my uncle and brother to George Cocking. His father was in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Fred Cocking, my great grandfather, was George Booth killed at Ypres in 1915 with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment.
Ronald served in the REME towards the end of WW2. Post war on demobilisation he worked at the local Hopkinson's Engineering works local to the Huddersfield area. He married and had had two daughters Susan and Julie and was married to his wife Joan. They lived mainly in the Dalton Oakes and Fenny Bridge area of the town. He is still living but sadly is not well at present.
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Pte Leonard Percival Cockram . British Army 2nd Btn. East Surrey Regiment from Fulham Leonard Cockram's actual surname is Cockram but his Service Register shows incorrect spelling as Cochran.
His Military Service commenced 3rd of November 1937. He served with the BEF and was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940. He transferred to the Parachute Regiment on the 19th of April 1941, then transferred to 2nd East Surrey Regiment sent to Singapore. He is listed on Casualty List as Missing on 15th of February 1942 then on an Amended Causalty List as a Prisoner of War. He returned to the UK in September 1945.
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RE Cockram . British Army RE Cockram served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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CSM. Willliam Cockrill . British Army Royal Fusiliers My great grandfather, CSM William Cockrill, was in the 56th London Division during the landing at Salerno. He was captured not long into the battle when he stayed to evacuate the wounded.
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Cpl. W. Cockton . Home Guard Signal Sect. Workington Btn.
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Sgt W R L Codd . (d.25th May 1943) Sgt Codd was killed on 25th May 1943 on Ops to Düsseldorf.
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Pte. Otto W. Coder . United States Army Air Corps 7th Mat. Sq.
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PFC. Michael Louis Codian . US Army 28th Infantry Division from Akron, Ohio, USA Michael Codian was captured in the Huertgen Forest and spent the rest of the war in Stalags 12A and 9B Limburg An Der Lahn, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia.
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Dvr. James William Codling . Royal Army Service Corps from Alderney My Great Granddad, James William Codling was a driver for the Royal Army Service Corps. I have been told that he went to Africa during the war and that is all I know.
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Lt. S. C. Codling . British Army 30th Btn. B Company. Royal Berkshire Regiment On 24 July 1942 Lt. S.C. Codling from Ramsden wrote to Miss Hope, secretary of Finstock Village Hall, Oxfordshire requesting the hire of the village hall on 30 July for a company dance. His address was B Company, 30th Royal Berkshire, Ramsden, Oxfordshire.
This letter is now in the collection of Finstock Local History Society Ref.14/3/7
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A.B G F Coe . Royal Navy HMS Nigeria (d.15th Aug 1944)
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A.B. G. F. Coe . Royal Navy HMS Nelson (d.15th Aug 1944)
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Johannes Jacobus "Kotje" Coers . Dutch Army from Djakarta, Indonesia My father whom we called pappie had served in the Dutch army and had been imprisoned for four years by the Japanese in Burma. Before his capture but shortly after his deployment his first wife was hospitalized and died due to some illness. Pappie had been called away from his post. He was guarding the waters of a very hot spot for casualty, and was told his wife grew gravely ill and he was needed at home. On his way there the soldier who had taken his place as guard was shot and killed by enemy fire and Pappie's wife died just as he was approaching the steps of the hospital. It was said that Pappie's life was saved by the death of his wife. At that time Pappie had two children that were being taken care of by one of his brothers while he went back to war.
I remember bits and pieces of the life Pappie had shared with me while he had been in the Japanese prison camp. It was while he was there that my grandmother was taken to a Japanese concentration camp in Indonesia. She died while there. The bitterness Pappie had towards the Japanese ran so deep and that bitterness continued to be there for the rest of his life. He had been afflicted with so many different jungle diseases, beriberi, malaria, dysentery, black water fever. He also suffered from tuberculosis while there but miraculously it had scarred over and didn't show up again until over thirty years later. One story he told us many times was when he grew ill from beriberi. The Japanese doctor had given Pappie a tracheotomy and placed a tube to draw out the fluid build up from his intestines. Pappie's stomach and testicles were swollen and only a drop every few minutes came out of that tube. The guards would laugh while relentlessly poking and prodding his testicles with their machetes. The doctor had said that Pappie would be dead by morning. After Pappie heard the diagnosis he called out on the Lord and begged for his life. He reminded the Lord that he had two motherless children back home and that they needed him. Where did that faith come from? Somewhere in the deep recesses of Pappie's heart was a stirring of something he had known and always known all his life. God was there and it was He that could do something to save Pappie from this circumstance. Shortly after that prayer Pappie would muster all the strength he could to get the guards attention by hitting the side of his bed with his hand and asking him for a bowl to urinate into. As Pappie told me this continued all through the night. By morning his stomach and testicles were back to normal size. The doctor said it was a miracle because they had no other explanation for it. The next day he was taken out of the infirmary and placed back to work on the railroads. He was forced to work shoeless the entire four years which caused some rather deep calluses on both his feet. He'd suffered due to those calluses all the rest of his life. Pappie had witnessed first hand the brutality of war. His meals consisted of rice and water and whatever he could find crawling or slithering the jungle floors. He shared with me another time when he'd been sick in the infirmary and the prisoner next to him had died leaving behind an egg next to his bed. Pappie reached over and took it deciding it was better off with him. Another time one of Pappie's fellow prisoners and close friend was tied to a tree and whipped to a pulp then left there for the tree was crawling with red ants. He remembered the man screaming even more fiercely while being eaten alive. Those screams stayed in Pappie's mind forever. I knew this because each time he would relate this story to me his face grew sullen and his eyes would get watery and he'd say, 'oh, God' and he would hang his head as if maybe if just maybe there could have been something that he could have done to save his friend. Pappie knew that it was his believing and his prayers that ultimately gave him the strength to go on. When he spoke of God there was a deep reverence to his tone of voice.
This is just part of the story I'd written about my father. I just wanted to share this little bit. Thank you.
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Pfc. Clarence Eugene Coffelt . United States Marine Corps from Oklahoma
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OJ Coffey . British Army OJ Coffey served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sqd.Ldr. Robert Ellsworth Coffey DFC & Bar.. Royal Canadian Air Force 440 Squadron. from Greenview, Illinois, U.S.A (d.1st Aug 1945) Squadron Leader Robert Coffey was the Son of Henry J. and Mary Coffey, of Greenview, Illinois, U.S.A. He had studied at Purdue University.
He was aged 30 when he fatally injured in an automobile accident, 1 August 1945 and is buried in the Graasten Cemetery in Denmark.
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Pte. John Coffield . British Army
Seaforth Highlanders
from Fort George
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Pte. George Coffin . British Army 2nd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment from Malpas, Cheshire
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Daniel G. Coggeshall Bronze Stars (5). US Army B Bty. 285th Field Artillery Observation Regiment from USA I am looking for information about my grandfather Daniel G Coggeshall, or his unit Battery `B', 285th Field Artillery Observation Btn. He served in Normandy, Northern France, the Ardennes and central Europe. He won five Bronze Stars.
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Pte. Henry Hubert Coggin . British Army Rifle Brigade This, unfortunately, is a story told totally from memory. It is my father's story and as he is now deceased I am unable to corroborate any of it.
Having been captured somewhere in Italy after his unit had run out of ammunition in a fire fight with Germans. I believe that this was sometime in 1944. They were reluctantly forced to surrender. Subsequently taken back to Munich and interred at Stalag 7B.
During his time there, my father and his comrades were used as working parties to carry out road repairs in the Munich area. On the return of such a working party one day, my father mentioned to the guards that they had no bread for the men and as there was a shop nearby could he go and buy some bread? It gives the impression that this camp was lightly guarded and the atmosphere must have been somewhat relaxed. The guards gave my father permission to go to the shop unattended. Suddenly, finding himself free from being in captivity he made the most of it and decided to keep going. An extremely risky decision one would imagine. However, not knowing what to do next he decided to try and hide somewhere for the night. This he did by climbing into a roadside salt bin, where he spent a cold and uncomfortable night. The following morning he peeped out of the bin lid and saw some people queuing for a bus. He took a chance and apparently unseen left the bin and joined the bus queue. He was of course immediately recognised as a British soldier, luckily for him it was by a woman who turned out to be French. She helped somehow to disguise him and took him back to her apartment. She at great risk to herself hid him there until the Americans arrived in Munich. I guess this was early 1945?
He then surrendered himself to the Americans who helped him get onto a Dakota bound for England. He was then reunited with his regiment based in Winchester. Soon after this he was posted to Chichester Barracks where he worked in the stores.
This is as much as I can tell you now but I am in possession of many of his letters dating from the time that have much more information. I will try to go through them asap, but I am very busy researching a WW1 project involving my wife's grandfather's war diaries.
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P.O. Ronald Claude Coggins . Royal Navy HMS Cossack (d.23rd Oct 1941) Ronald Coggins was my late mother's first husband. He was killed in the war, and we have just found amongst my father's (mums 2nd husband) wartime memorabilia, a voice record. It is not in the best condition, a bit pitted in places, but we wondered if anyone knows anything about them, as we were hoping to be able to play some of it or get it restored in any way? We also have a two page newspaper article from June 1st 1941 about the captain of the Cossack - Capt Philip Louis Vian.
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Pte. Donald Lindsey Cogman . British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Norfolk Regiment from Norwich, Norfolk Donald Cogman served with the 2nd Royal Norfolk Regiment. He died in 1998.
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