His great-grandfather was a Venetian named Marco de Rocco, who moved to Dubrovnik (in the Kingdom of Dalmatia) and married a local woman.

On his maternal side, his great-uncle was Jovan Đorđević (1826–1900), the founder of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad.

[citation needed] During his childhood years, his family lived in his great-uncles' house at Knez Mihailova Street, in the center of Belgrade.

In the beginning of the war he volunteered in the artillery, but was transferred to Skoplje to join the battalion of 1300 Corporals and was made a sergeant.

His squadron joined the recovered Serbian army on the Salonika front, where he fought until the end of the war and the liberation of Serbia.