Charles Henry Pooley was born in Newhaven, East Sussex. After leaving school at 14, he worked locally as a butchers assistant and with parental permission, joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in Newhaven at 17.

He volunteered to join the Royal Navy in May 1939 and signed up for 12 years. He initially went to Portsmouth and trained as a signalman.

Charles remained in Portsmouth as an ordinary signalman until he joined HMS Danae on 18th November 1939 gaining the rank of signalman on 24th October 1940. He transferred to HMS Tamar, Hong Kong on the 19th December 1940 becoming a trained operator in visual signalling on the 16th March 1941.

He remained at HMS Tamar until his capture on the 12th December 1941. Charles survived the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and was taken Prisoner of War and held at Osaka camp Japan. He was repatriated to England at the end of the war.

On arrival back in England Charles was posted to HMS Mercury, where he met his future wife Joan, who was then a leading wren cook. She took pity on him, being so thin after his imprisonment and won his heart by feeding him "extra portions" of food!

Much to his dismay, he was discharged as physically unfit in February 1947. The same month he married Joan.

He needed to be outside after his ordeal and so took work as a farm labourer, working on many different farms whilst bringing up their children alongside his wife. He finally moved back to Newhaven in 1966 and remained in the area until his death in 2002.

His eldest son entered the merchant navy before marrying and settling in Australia, his younger son lives in East Sussex and his daughter is married to a Commander RN.