Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Freeman was born on the 27th of May 1946 in South Shields, England, to John Thomas (Jock) Freeman and Isabella Ford Welsh.

Freeman’s father, Jock, met Isabella in England during the Second World War while serving as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force. They married in July 1945.

In February 1946, Jock was repatriated to Australia for demobilisation, leaving Isabella, who was pregnant, behind. Three months after baby John’s birth, Isabella and her baby sailed for Australia. When the ship docked in Sydney that August, his father Jock was there to meet them.

John Freeman grew up in the NSW town of Mullumbimby. Over the following years, two brothers, Peter and Ian, and a sister, Susan, were born.

By the time John started high school, the family had moved to Sydney. He attended Drummoyne Boys High School, obtaining his Leaving Certificate in 1963. Outside of school, John Freeman enjoyed writing, photography and playing squash.

In March 1964, he began working as a clerk for National Mutual Life Association.

Freeman joined the Citizens Military Force (CMF) on the 16th of June 1965, serving with the 1st Division Intelligence Unit. He completed his subject courses for promotion in July the following year and was promoted to Corporal at the end of that month.

He started two months of full-time service with the CMF in February 1967, during which time he attended a Battle Efficiency Course at the Jungle Warfare Training Centre, Canungra. His full-time CMF service concluded on the 26th of April, and the following day he enlisted at the Combined Recruiting Centre in Sydney. He enlisted for three years but reverted to the rank of Private.

Having recently completed his Battle Efficiency training, Freeman was not required to undergo basic training and he joined the 1st Division Intelligence Unit for service in South Vietnam. John Freeman flew out of Sydney on the 12th of June and arrived in Vung Tau the next day. He joined Detachment 1, 1st Division Intelligence Unit, operating out of Nui Dat, and the following month regained his rank of Corporal.

On the 14th of October, Freeman and other members of his unit visited an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) intelligence unit in Ba Ria, the provincial capital of Phuoc Tuy Province. In the early hours of the 15th of October, the 1st Australian Task Force Headquarters at Nui Dat received a report from a South Vietnamese unit that an overturned South Vietnamese military vehicle had been found in a stream around 2 miles south of Ba Ria. The driver, pinned under the vehicle when it rolled, had drowned. Soon after being discovered, the body was identified as that of John Freeman.

An investigation into the crash was unable to find an explanation as to why Freeman was driving a South Vietnamese military vehicle in the early hours of the 15th of October, but the accident was probably caused by torrential rain rather than any enemy activity. John Freeman was 21 years old. His remains were repatriated to Australia and, following a funeral, were cremated. His ashes were laid to rest in Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium in North Ryde, Sydney.

Freeman was the only member of the Australian Army Intelligence Corps to lose his life during the Vietnam War. His name is listed on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial, among more than 500 Australians who lost their lives as a result of this service during the Vietnam War. 

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Corporal John William Freeman, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.