Edward Abelscaln, a Latvian seaman, enlisted in Melbourne and served at Gallipoli with 13th Light Horse Regiment. He obviously was fluent in English, as, while in Egypt he took a course at the School of Instruction and, when at the Western Front, was transferred to the Australian Provost Corps and appointed Lance Sergeant.
He was awarded with the Military Medal for his bravery and initiative during the battle for Passchendaele in October 1917, organising traffic under heavy shelling on the Bellewaarde Plank Road where it had been blocked by a shell crater. His commander in the recommendation for award noted his ‘energy, coolness, and example’.
Abelscaln was discharged in London, planning to return to independent Latvia to care for his father.
The story of Latvian Henry Adjutant’s settlement in Australia began dramatically. In 1906 he arrived in Australia on the barque ‘Thistle Bank’, the seamen of which complained that on the voyage to Australia they were half-starving. Adjutant deserted from the barque with his mate John Paulin, an Austrian. Several months later, when they were working near Ensay in the Snowy Mountains, they had a heated argument and Adjutant stabbed Paulin with a knife. He was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. In the following years he worked as a labourer in Gippsland.
He landed at Gallipoli with the 14th Battalion in May 1915. Being wounded there in June, he was evacuated to Australia. While in Melbourne he married an Australian girl, but soon resumed his army service, performing nursing duties on the troop ships travelling between Egypt and Australia.
Thomas Lind, a Finn from Vyborg, came to Australia in 1907. Working as a fisherman and a labourer he lived in Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand, Queensland and New South Wales.
He enlisted in the AIF in Brisbane and, landing at Gallipoli with the 15th Battalion, was killed.
After his death it was established that his true name was Antti Kujala. His mother in Finland was found after the war and received his medals.
Russian Anzacs