Jack Aloe
AWM memorial panel 109
Jack Aloe
(Chronicle, Adelaide, 9 November 1918, p. 26.)
Born 14.01.1891
Place Revel (Tallinn), Estonia
Ethnic origin Estonian
Religion Church of England
Father K. Aloe
Mother Mary Aloe
Arrived at Australia
from Antwerp, Belgium
on 20.12.1911
per Furth
disembarked at Port Adelaide, SA
Residence before enlistment Port Pirie, SA
Occupation Fireman
Service service number 4052
enlisted 7.12.1915
POE Adelaide
unit 27th Battalion
rank Private
place Western Front, 1916-1918
casualties WIA 1916, 1917 (3 times)
final fate KIA 31.08.1918
memorial 26 Villers-Bretonneux, France
Naturalisation Served as Russian subject
Materials
Digitised naturalisation application (NAA)
Digitised service records (NAA)
Digitised Embarkation roll entry (AWM)
South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau file
Army pay file (NAA)
Blog article
From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:
For some Russian immigrants naturalisation was not just a formality: in joining the Australian army some really did want to be Australians. So, the denial of naturalisation to the men who went overseas to fight for Australia was especially harsh. In 1915 Jack Aloe, an Estonian seaman who settled in Australia in 1911, wrote: 'my intention is to enlist for active service as soon as I am accepted as a British subject'. In a week he received the formal response that he was 'not eligible to apply for Commonwealth naturalization at the present time'. Nevertheless, he joined the AIF, was wounded three times and, in the name of the nation which rejected him, made his supreme sacrifice in the battle for Péronne almost at the end of the war.