"I would never have expected to see my granddaughter get out of bed at half-past-four in the morning to come to dawn parade. That was beyond my comprehension," he said.
His great grandchildren have been twice as well.
"I can't answer the reason why, but it's lovely to see," Mr Pocock said.
He was a young man when he joined the navy and saw active service in the Korean War (1950-53).
When he wasn't at sea, he spent most of his time as a radio operator at the navy radio station at Irirangi near Waiouru.
He makes an effort to get to every dawn parade, not just to remember his comrades but more importantly because his father was at Gallipoli and his elder brother was in those convoys.
He was 19 when he sailed to Korea aboard HMNZS Kaniere and was there when the ceasefire was declared.
His frigate patrolled close to the North Korean coast, intercepting junks thought to be carrying supplies to the North Koreans. In daytime, it was a case of standing offshore and bombarding enemy positions.
"We also got caught up in the Suez crisis in 1956 when we were bringing the HMNZS Royalist back from England a few years later," he said.
"Prior to that we'd sailed the cruiser Bellona back to the UK to be decommissioned."
Expect to see Mr Pocock back for next year's dawn parade.
"But that depends on what he upstairs has got in store," he said, pointing to the heavens.
