Colin was born on 6 July 1920 at Sydney, the third child of Philip and Phyllis Pring.
He was educated at Kerrsworth Primary School, then Scots College at Bellevue Hill followed by The Armidale School (TAS) as a border. At TAS he was captain of White House, captain of the firsts cricket team and captain of the swimming team. A broken hip prevented him playing some sports like rugby.
After leaving school he studied law at Sydney University. Colin was very proud of his grandfather Mr Justice Pring who was a judge of the Supreme Court.
In 1940 he enlisted in the Army and trained at Bathurst and other places. A bombardier with the 17th Anti Tank Battery, RAA, he served in Rabaul in PNG, and was taken a prisoner of war by the Japanese Army. The Japanese then took Colin and over 1,000 other Australians on the Montevideo Maru and headed for Japan. Tragically, because the ship did not bear Red Cross signage, it was sunk by the American Navy with the loss of all lives on 1st July 1942. The American Navy did not know the ship had all the prisoners of war on board.
Very sadly Colin’s family did not hear about his death until after the end of the war in 1945.
By Mrs Pamela Seddon, his sister.