Carl Gustav Sauvola, a Finnish seaman from Brahestad (Raahe), came to South Australia in 1904 and worked as a labourer and later as an ‘electrical labourer’. In 1908 he married an Australian girl, Emily Louisa Kerr; their first children were born in Port Adelaide, but after the death of their two daughters they moved to Melbourne.
Carl enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne, but was transferred to the home service, 3rd District Guard Corps – by that time he was 40 years old. In December 1918 he was discharged, but in January 1919 enlisted for home service in the Central Flying School, Laverton.
After the war he lived with his family in Melbourne, working as a fitter’s labourer.
Alfred Miller, a Polish man from Lodz, was a motor mechanic by trade. He came to Western Australia in 1914 and later moved to Adelaide.
He tried to enlist in the AIF in October 1916, but was rejected because of defective vision. Enlisting in August 1917 in Adelaide, he was allocated to the Army Medical Corps, but was discharged in December 1917, getting the position of an instructor for motor and electrical work for returned men.
In 1920-1921 he travelled all over Australia in search of work and finally settled in Melbourne.
Charles Anderson, a Finnish seaman, came to Australia in 1914 and worked as a miner.
Enlisting in the AIF in Nymagee, NSW, he served with the 2nd Tunnelling Company on the Western Front. In October 1918, during the advance on the Hindenburg Line, he was wounded in the arm and returned to Australia.
Jack Shilony enlisted in the AIF as a ‘Russian Jew’; in one case he stated he was born in Jerusalem in Palestine, in another case, in Marseilles in France. Most likely he grew up in Palestine, where his parents were living. He came to Western Australia in 1913 and was working as a moulder apprentice. In 1916-1917 he worked as a ward orderly in Perth Public Hospital.
Enlisting in the AIF in Perth, he served with the 10th Field Ambulance on the Western Front.
After the war he stayed in Perth, working as a hospital attendant and later as a laundry man. In 1925 he married Julie Staricoff. After his wife’s death in 1937 he married Olga Rosenberg. Retiring, he moved to Melbourne in the late 1970s.
Emil Everd Hofdahl, a Finnish seaman from Tammerfors (Tampere), came to Australia in 1916, deserting his ship.
He tried to enlist in October 1916, but was not successful. He was accepted at the second attempt, in August 1917, and was sent to work to the Australian General Hospital as an orderly. In April 1918 suspicions arouse that he was a German, although he stated that he did not know the German language, and he was discharged.
Russian Anzacs