Jack Aloe, an Estonian fireman from Revel (Tallinn) came to Australia in 1911 and worked in Port Pirie in South Australia. Before enlisting in the AIF he applied for naturalisation, but was refused.
He served with the 27th Battalion on the Western Front where he was wounded three times: twice in August 1916, at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, and in April 1917 at Bullecourt. In August 1918, at the battle for Perrone, he was killed.
His mother, Mary Aloe, was found after the war in Riga and received his medals.
Frank Dvoretsky came from a Jewish family in Slonim, Belarus. At his first enlistment in the AIF he claimed to be born in Ballarat, but at the second provided ‘Russia’ as his birth place. Most likely he came to Australia with his mother as a child in the early 1890s. The family first lived in Ballarat, but then moved to Western Australia, where they were farming.
Frank enlisted in the AIF in June 1915, but was discharged soon after that. In November 1915 he boarded a troopship as a stowaway and was enlisted in the army upon arrival to Egypt. He was allocated to the 4th Division Ammunition Column, but injured his left hand, his fingers were amputated, and he was returned to Australia.
After the war he tried several occupations, until he found his calling as dances promoter in Perth.
Charles Greive, an engineer from Riga, came to Australia after three years service in the Russian army. By the time of his enlistment in the AIF, he lived in Cobram in Victoria.
Eight months after enlisting he deserted. He disappears from Australian records after that.
Feodot Peachenoff, a peasant from Bratskoe in Kiev Province in Ukraine, served for four years in the Russian army. In 1911 he came to Australia from the Russian Far East, leaving behind his wife and daughter. He worked for over a year in railway construction work before he collected enough money to allow them to join him in Australia. They bought an agricultural farm in Booyal in Bundaberg area.
Enlisting in the AIF, Feodot served in the Field Ambulance.
After the war he returned to Booyal, but worked in cane-cutting as a labourer rather than a farmer; during WWII he moved to Sydney, while his son Victor served in the 2nd AIF.
Ian Rosing, a Latvian born in Omsk, according to his naturalisation papers, received a good education in Russia. He was fluent in Latvian, Russian, modern Greek, German and English. Later he stated that he worked in ciphers and codes in the Imperial Russian war office. He came to Australia in December 1915 and enlisted a few days later.
He started his service in Melbourne and while he was training his photograph appeared in The Australasian with the inscription: ‘Trooper Ian Rosing, a Siberian Cossack who fought in the Russo-Japanese war’ – despite Rosing being sixteen when the war started. He served with the 37th Battalion on the Western front, attaining the rank of warrant officer. He was wounded in January 1917 at Armentieres and in October of the same year at Passchendaele. In August 1918 he was wounded for the third time, at Amiens advance. In June 1917 he showed ‘conspicuous gallantry’ at the battle for Messines, for which he was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal. At a critical moment, when his officers ‘had become casualties’, he took command, ‘capturing the objective and re-organising his men against possible attacks’.
While serving in France he met and married a French woman Jeanne-Marie Chiffre, who joined him in Australia after the war. They lived in Melbourne where Rosing worked as a businessman engaged in import-export operations. He aspired to represent Latvian and Russian interests in Australia and during WWII joined the AIF serving in Headquarters in Melbourne as a clerk.
Charles Fest from Helsingfors (Helsinki) in Finland came to Australia in 1909 and deserted his ship in Port Pirie. By 1915 he worked in Mount Morgan as miner.
Enlisting in the AIF he married an Australian girl, Mary Emmeline Phillipson, avoided embarkation and thendeserted the army several months later.
Afterwards he also used the names George Solomon and Charles George Fest. He was employed by the Harbour and Marine Department. By the time of WWII he lived on a houseboat called ‘Ocean Spray’ on the Hamilton Reach of the Brisbane River working as 2nd mate and diver on a drainage boat.
Russian Anzacs