Johnson, Edwin George
15154 Gunner Edwin George Johnson - 12th Field Artillery Brigade AIF
Edwin George Johnson was born in 1897 in Port Adelaide South Australia to George and Agnes Johnson. The family moved to Western Australia while Edwin was still young and took up residence at 44 Ellen Street Fremantle (later renumbered). He was educated locally and after leaving school took up employment as a clerk. During his school years, Edwin had also served in the 86A Cadets of the Citizens Military Forces.
On the 19th January 1916 Edwin enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 8 inches tall;
Weight - 117lbs;
Chest Measurement - 31-33 inches;
Complexion - Fair;
Eyes - Grey;
Hair - Brown.
After his successful enlistment Edwin was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to No.47 Depot Camp. Edwin was taken through the basics of army training and after two weeks was transferred to the Artillery reinforcements. As the Artillery recruits were being trained in Victoria, Edwin was sent across to Melbourne. The Artillery training camp was at Maribyrnong.
Edwin trained here for the next five months and was then assigned to the 3rd Reinforcements to the 10th Field Artillery Brigade. This group departed from Port Melbourne aboard the transport ship Berrima on the 4th July 1916. The ship journey to England took two months, arriving there in September 1916.
Edwin and his group were then disembarked and sent to the Artillery Training Camp on the Salisbury Plains. He remained here for the rest of 1916. On the 16th January 1917 Edwin was sent across to France and went into the Australian Base Depot Camp at Etaples. It appears that someone in Edwin's group was sick as the men including Edwin were sent to the segregation Camp. Edwin was here for several weeks, before being released on the 24th March 1917.
On the 28th March 1917 Edwin was transferred to duty to No.4 Ammunition Park and then on the 7th April 1917 was transferred to No.12 Ammunition Sub Park.
The 12th Ammunition Sub Park was a mechanical transport unit of the Australian Army Service Corps that was attached to the 12th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, 4th Division AIF. They transported artillery ammunition safely and efficiently from railheads and dumps directly to field artillery batteries under hazardous conditions.
Edwin served with this unit through 1917, seeing action on the Bullecourt front through April and May 1917 before heading to Belgium where they served at the Messines sector from June to August 1917. The 12th FA Brigade was then sent to near Ypres in Belgium where they would remain through September to November 1917.
Edwin came through this time unscathed and in January 1918 was given his first period of leave to England. He then returned to his unit in February 1918. He served with them in Northern France and near Villers-Bretonneux through to August 1918. He was then transferred to the 36th Heavy Artillery Group and their ammunition column. He saw out the war with this unit.
He continued to serve in France through 1919. In March 1919 he transferred to the 4th Motor Transport Company and he would be attached to the Australian War Graves Service, which meant he served in France through to October 1919. He then returned to England and went into camp at Sutton Veny. Edwin would now wait to be assigned a berth on a troopship home. On the 5th December 1919 he boarded the transport ship Lucie Woerman and set sail for home, reaching Fremantle on the 13th January 1920. He was then discharged from the AIF on the 7th March 1920.
On his return in 1920, Edwin married Mildred Madeleine Gore and they went to lived in North Fremantle at 10 DeLisle street. Edwin was then working as a boilermakers apprentice. They had a daughter Yvonne born in 1923.
The family then moved to 84 Scott Street in South Fremantle and Edwin was now working as a Lumper on Fremantle wharf.
By 1936 Edwin was living at 67 Adelaide street and his marriage had dissolved as in 1937 he was remarried at St Johns church Fremantle to Rita Hayward Pyke
In the 1940's they would be living at 77 Queen Victoria Street Fremantle and Edwin would still be working as a Lumper. After World War Two he moved to Coogee South Fremantle.
Edwin died in Coogee on the 30th November 1953 aged 57. He was buried at Fremantle Cemetery plot Anglican MON A3 0057.