John Tosold, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at enlistment in the AIF posed as a native of ‘Russian Poland’. He was a sailor and came to Australia in 1906, working as a labourer in South and Western Australia. When the war broke out he tried to naturalise, but was rejected. In 1915 he was arrested and interned as an enemy, but stated that he was naturalised in the USA and was released.
He enlisted in the AIF in Port Lincoln in South Australia in May 1917 as a Russian subject, but was discharged a month later and interned as a POW.
In 1919 he was deported to Austria, where he married and returned to Australia in 1927 with his wife Hanna and two daughters. He worked as a farmhand and contractor and for years tried to naturalise in Australia, until he finally succeeded in 1946.
Morris Gershen, a Jewish man from Russian Poland, came to England in his youth and emigrated to Western Australia in 1908. He worked as a tailor in Boulder City and Kalgoorlie, marrying a local girl, Ethel May Temby, in 1915.
Enlisting in the AIF, he served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front.
After the war he received some vocational training in England and, returning to Australia, opened a successful business, first in Moora and then in Geraldton.
Alfred Wald, a Finn from Mariehamn, worked in Western Australia as a farmhand.
Enlisting in the AIF in Bunbury, he served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. In August 1918 he was wounded in the ear, but returned to his battalion two weeks later.
After the war he lived in country areas of Western Australia, working as a farm worker and labourer.
Vincent Uscinski, a Polish man born in Ostrow, came to Australia with his parents and siblings in 1911 from Harbin, where the family had spent several years. They settled in Brisbane, where Vincent worked as a sign writer.
Enlisting in the AIF, he served with the 41st Battalion on the Western Front.
He died in an accident in 1921 upon his return to Australia.
Russian Anzacs