Robert Meerin

Born 19.10.1889
Place Riga, Latvia
Ethnic origin Latvian
Religion Church of England
Father Joseph Meerin
Family

Wife Vera Meerin (née Downer), married in 1928 in Sydney
Arrived at Australia from Rotterdam, Holland
on 17.03.1909
per Irby
disembarked at Broadmount, Qld
Residence before enlistment Bundaberg, Mackay & Sydney
Occupation 1914 wharf labourer, 1916 rigger, 1930 labourer
Naturalisation 1914
Residence after the war Sydney
Died 02.1951, Sydney

Service #1

Service number 2845
Enlisted 21.08.1916
Place of enlistment Sydney
Unit 3rd Pioneer Battalion, 3rd MG Battalion
Rank Private
Place Western Front, 1917-1919
Discharged 12.05.1919 in London

Service #2 – British Army

Enlisted 1919
Unit Middlesex Regiment, the North Russian Relief Force
Rank Interpreter
Place Russia, 1919-1920
Discharged Ca 1920

Materials

Publications

Aldis Putniņš, Latvieši un Anzaku diena: Roberta Mieriņa raibās gaitas, - Laikraksts Latvietis Nr. 253, 2013. g. 18. apr.

Blog article

Russian

English

Newspaper articles

Loading sleepers. - The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 December 1938, p. 5.

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

[...] five Russians enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment, mostly as interpreters, and served with the North Russian Relief Force: Alex Alexandroff, from Vladivostok (a former cook), Robert Meerin and Anthony Minkshlin, from the Baltic region (both former seamen), Ivan Odliff, from Nizhny Novgorod (a former boiler-maker), and Paul Smirnoff, a 19-year-old former miner from Vologda, northern Russia. Richard Gregorenko planned to join them but later changed his mind and returned to Australia. They arrived in Archangel in summer 1919 and fought against the pro-Bolshevik forces in the area until the final evacuation of Allied forces a year later. Minkshlin was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for this campaign.

Gallery

Robert Meerin
Aldis Putnins, Latviesi un Anzaku diena

Map