S4891 Frederick Edward Johnson as an able seaman, HMAS Westralia, Broome, Ararat and Nepal, west Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Coral and Arafura Seas, 1941-1945, interviewed by Lorna Dodd

Fred Johnson speaks about his education and early working life; involvement with the Freshwater Surf Lifesaving Club; enlistment in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); early training in communications at HMAS Rushcutter and in the Seaman's Branch at the Flinders Naval Depot; being drafted to armed merchant cruiser HMAS Westralia in September 1941; service and conditions aboard the Westralia, especially regarding physical activities; being drafted to corvette HMAS Broome in Brisbane in 1942; adjusting to a much smaller ship; arrival of Broome in Port Moresby; being met by an army sergeant uncle with bad news on board Broome; operations between Milne Bay and Oro Bay, including troop-carrying; the bombing of the Pirie; being transferred to corvette Ararat; service aboard the Ararat; opportunities for leave; differences between service on the Broome and the Ararat; transfer to the N Class Destroyer Nepal; the end of the war; becoming a civilian and finding employment; moving to West Australia; family, and sporting and other activities.

Part of a collection of nineteen oral history interviews conducted by the Royal Australian Navy Corvettes Association of Western Australia. Interviewers included John Roberts, Margaret Rickard, Lorna Dodd, William Gray Ritchie and Jack Shepheard.