John Frewen (general)
John James Frewen, is a senior officer in the Australian Army. He has been Principal Deputy Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate since 1 March 2018.
On 9 March 2020, the Australian Defence Organisation established a COVID-19 taskforce and seconded Frewen from ASD to lead it.
Lt-Col Frewin commanded the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment from January 2003 to December 2004. In this role, he was the initial international force commander for the Solomon Islands crisis in 2003. He commanded rotation 1 from initial deployment on 24 July 2003 until 19 November 2003. The task force comprised almost half of 2RAR, augmented by other Australian Army, Navy and Air Force, and troops from New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga. At its peak, he commanded 1900 personnel,, four other ships, Australian and New Zealand helicopters, and two Australian Caribou aircraft. He identified the highlight as the surrender of warlord Harold Keke on 13 August 2003.
Frewen commanded the 1st Brigade from 2012 to 2014.Honours
Frewen was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia as part of the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours for "Exceptional performance during operations as the commander of Combined Joint Task Force 635 during Operation Anode from July to November 2003." He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross as part of the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "Distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations as the Commander Joint Task Force 633 on Operations OKRA and HIGHROAD from January 2017 to January 2018."
