Leslie Albert JOHNSON

JOHNSON, Leslie Albert

Service Number: VX50877
Enlisted: 10 March 1941
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: General / Motor Transport Company/ies (WW2)
Born: Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia , 6 July 1909
Home Town: Not yet discovered
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Accidental, Malaya, 24 January 1942, aged 32 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Singapore Memorial, Singapore Col 138
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Singapore Memorial Kranji War Cemetery
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, VX50877
10 Mar 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX50877, General / Motor Transport Company/ies (WW2)

A Family Hero

Len was born in 1908 in Elsternwick (Victoria) and was one of eight children. Life could not have been easy for the Len and the other children but any such difficulties were severely exacerbated when their mother ( Margaret ) died in 1918.
Following the death of Margaret, Len’s father (Albert) was forced to make a painful decision and , due to the existing family circumstances, placed Len and two of his brothers (Eric and Dan) in care at the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage in South Melbourne.

Len played just five games with the ‘Shinboners’ before stepping down from VFL football. He was only 25 years of age when he departed the NMFC. In all, he had played 69 VFL games and booted 88 goals. However, his days as a league footballer were only part of a bigger and more intriguing journey that would see him travel him to NSW, country Victoria, Tasmania and New Guinea.

After stepping down from NMFC it is known that Len left the city and coached Griffith FC in NSW and then later transferred to Nhill FC.

Perhaps the hard times, caused by the worsening economic conditions throughout Australia, were a catalyst for Len to ‘go bush.’ The Wall Street crash of 1929 had taken a massive toll on the Australian workforce and it is stated that the unemployment rate in Australia in 1933 was nudging 27%.

In addition, severe financial problems had beset some VFL football clubs in that period, including North Melbourne, where Len had played in 1933…

In 1938 Len took charge of Longford FC in the North Tasmanian Football Association. It can be assumed that he was successful during that season as he was reappointed as coach for the following year.

It wasn’t long after the end of the 1940 football season that Len joined the Australian Army. The World War 2 Nominal Roll shows that Len (Service No: VX50877) enlisted at Carlton on the 10th March 1941.

Len’s brother Eric ‘joined-up’ around the same time and after basic military training the two brothers were stationed in Malaya.

In less than one year after signing on for duty, Len was killed in a freakish accident when a brick wall, that was being demolished, crashed on top of him. His death, which occurred on January 24th 1942, was reported in several newspapers including the ‘Launceston Examiner’…

The boy from the orphanage had done well and left behind his brothers and sisters (two other brothers were also in WW2 -Eric with him in Singapore and Harold in the Middle East).

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