Members of the Cowra Breakout Association have paid tribute to Thomas Hancock, the fifth Australian soldier to die as a result of the Cowra Prisoner of War Breakout.
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On Friday, August 16, Cowra Breakout Association President Gordon Rolls, Vice President Harvey Nicholson and Chair of the 75th Anniversary Committee, Graham Apthorpe travelled to Blayney to meet with Hancock's grandson Paul (Taffy) Hancock.
The group then laid a wreath in memory of his sacrifice during WW2.
Thomas Roy Hancock was a Sergeant in the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) and was based in Blayney.
On August 7, 1944, Sergeant Hancock was part of a patrol being sent to the Blayney Railway Station to search for possible Japanese Prisoners of War following the breakout at Cowra Prisoner of War Camp.
During the movement to the railway, Sergeant Hancock was accidentally shot. On August 16, 1944, Thomas Roy Hancock died of complications of his wound.
For many years, it was believed that only four Australian soldiers lost their lives as a result of the Breakout, however according to the Australian War Memorial, the Court of Inquiry into Hancock's death later established that it was brought about indirectly by the escape of the Japanese Prisoners of War.
