JOHNSON, Henry Joseph
| Service Number: | WX15640 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 August 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, 22 September 1920 |
| Home Town: | Boyup Brook, Boyup Brook, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Brooklyn School, Bridgetown, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Farm Hand and Truck Driver |
| Died: | Adelaide, South Australia, 15 March 1958, aged 37 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 6 Aug 1941: | Involvement Private, WX15640 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Aug 1941: | Enlisted Claremont, WA | |
| 6 Aug 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX15640 | |
| 13 Jan 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX15640, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion, embarked Fremantle for Singapore on board the Aquitania | |
| 15 Feb 1942: | Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, POW No:8793; Selarang Camp & Barracks Tarsau, Kanyu II, Hintock, D Force Thailand: Chumphon, Petchaburi, Kachu Mountain Camp, Bangkok | |
| 20 Oct 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX15640, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion, embarked Singapore for Fremantle on board Highland Brigade | |
| 14 Dec 1945: | Discharged |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private Henry Joseph Johnson (Service No:WX15640) enlisted in the AIF on 6 August 1941, and was attached to 3 and 4 Training Battalions and 2/32 Battalion Reinforcements. On 13 January 1942, Private Johnson was attached to 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for Singapore on board the Aquitania. Captured by the Japanese on 15 February 1942 (not confirmed as a PoW until 17 September 1943), Private Johnson was initially held (PoW No: 8793) at Selarang Camp and Barracks in Changi. On 29 September 1943, a message from Private Johnson was heard over short wave from Singapore (NAA) 'Dear father. Am quite well. Hope you are all the same. Remember me to all at home. Owen Doust is well. Don't worry, everything going fine. Love from Harry'. Private Johnson was interned in Thailand - Tarsau, Kanyu II, Hintock, Chumphon, Petchaburi, Kachu Mountain Camp (2/4th Machine Gun Battalion) - and was recovered fro the Japanese on 4 October 1945. Private Johnson embarked from Singapore for Fremantle on 20 October 1945 on board the Highland Brigade, and was attached to 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion at Discharge on 14 December 1945. Brother Reg also served in the Army (Private; Service No:WX21004).
Seventh of eight children, Harry was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1920 to Joseph Norman Johnson (b1889 in Thebarton, South Australia) and his first wife Olive Gertrude Walker (b1888 in Orroroo, South Australia). Joseph and Olive married in 1911 in Orroroo, and lived in Kapunda and Adelaide, where they raised their family. Following Olive's death in 1924, Joseph remarried and in the late 1920s moved his family to Bridgetown, WA where he was a Farmer.
Harry workd as a Farm Hand and Truck Driver for Henderson Bros at Glendale in Boyup Brook prior to enlisting in the AIF. Following his Discharge, Harry was a Farmer in Kojunup when, in 1952, he married Margaret (Meg) Sinfield (b1931 in Perth, WA). Harry and Meg settled in Kojunup, where Harry was a Farmer when he died (in Adelaide) in 1958. Meg later remarried, and died in 2013.
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