The Australian Army’s Lance Corporal Stephen Carl Johanson died after his car and a truck collided on the Mitchell Highway near Wongarbon last Monday night.

Family and friends gathered at the Baptist Community Centre in Dubbo on Saturday for a service of thanksgiving and remembrance where A Cry of the Soul, written by the deceased man’s father and former Dubbo Christian School teacher Les Johanson, touched everyone.

Born in Durban, South Africa, Lance Corporal Johanson was raised at Wongarbon where his family settled after moving to Australia.

He worked at Fletcher’s International Export before joining the army.

Recently he returned to Australia from service in Timor and at the time of his death, was on leave from duties in Darwin to catch up with Dubbo-based sister Paula Hildebrandt, her husband, Andrew, and their two children Riley and Kara.

On the day of the crash, Lance Corporal Johanson was visiting friends and former neighbours at Wongarbon.

His mother and father, Les and Liz Johanson, now of Bodalla on the South Coast, were visiting family in the United States when told of his death.

At Saturday’s service Mr Johanson’s feelings were expressed in a memorial keepsake bearing a picture of his son.

“What thoughts were going through his mind as he swung onto the highway that afternoon?,” he writes in A Cry of the Soul.

“Undoubtedly pleasant thoughts of recent happy times spent with the family.

“And thoughts of his beloved Annie in far-away Darwin.

“All this to be brought to an abrupt halt in the screeching of tyres, the twisting of metal, and the shattering of glass.”

The bereaved father conveyed how “Steve has enriched our lives in many diverse ways”.

“And we choose today to be thankful for all these things rather than to grapple with questions which will only be answered in eternity,” he wrote.

The front page of the keepsake describes Lance Corporal Johanson as “a loving partner to Annie, a devoted son, brother and uncle, and a very proud Australian soldier”.

His partner is currently in Dubbo to attend tomorrow’s service at the Baptist Community Centre in Cobra Street from 11 am.