Edward Hillocks enlisted with his cousin Douglas Graham Watson in 1917. The pair trained at Codford Camp near Salisbury. Hillocks marched out to the 49th Battalion in France a month after his cousin but his duty at the front was shorter. In August, he was detached from the 49th to perform guard duties for prisoners of war. This meant Hillocks, unlike Watson, missed the attack on the Hindenburg Line in September.
Hillocks returned to Australia in 1919. Hillocks had been a junior soccer player before his enlistment, playing for Norths in 1917. This led to him being added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board alongside Watson in 1918.
After the war he played for the successful Diggers club into the 1920s, by which time he was sometimes reported as Ted. In 1925, Hillocks played for Toowoomba against the visiting English XI.