Jack Kanaef (originally his name was probably Ivan Korneev), an electrician from Moscow, fought at the battle of Mukden in the Russo-Japanese war. His daughter Leah believes that while in Russia he escaped from political exile to Siberia and fled to Australia in 1914. Before the war he lived in Queanbeyan.
Enlisting in the AIF in Goulburn, he served in the 5th Field Ambulance on the Western Front, but was returned to Australia and discharged for reason of insufficient English.
After the war he returned to Queanbeyan and worked as an electrician, being employed at the Canberra Power House in 1922, and was involved in the electrification of the Canberra-Queanbeyan area. In 1920 he married Zillah Lakovsky, a Jewish girl from Ukraine, whose brothers also served in the AIF. In 1922 they had twins, Leah and Mischa, but in 1923 Jack left the family and went to Fiji. During WWII his son and daughter both participated in the war, while Jack surfaced in the USA, registering for army service.
Andreas Voitkun from Riga had a Polish father, Adam Woitkun, and a Latvian mother. A ship engineer by trade, he came to Adelaide with his wife Emily and two children in 1913. They settled in Port Pirie, where Andreas worked as a labourer. Three more children were born there.
In spite of the fact that he had a large family, Andreas enlisted in the AIF, as being a Russian citizen he was compelled to serve in the Allied army. He came to the Western Front with the 32nd Battalion. In July 1916, less than a month after his arrival, at the battle for Fromelles he was severely wounded in the right leg and left wrist and taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans.
Reunited after the war with his family, he lived in Port Pirie, working at the smelters there. His grandson, Prof. Peter Dennis, is the creator of the excellent database of all AIF servicemen.
Alfred Goldberg, a Jewish man from Kutno in Poland, came to Australia in 1907 in the footsteps of his elder brother Benjamin, who later enlisted in the AIF as well. Alfred was a hairdresser by trade.
He enlisted in the AIF in Rockhampton under the name of Alfred Lewis. He served in the 26th Battalion on the Western Front and was wounded at the Somme in November 1916. He was returned to Australia and discharged as medically unfit.
After the war he married Rebecca Lenzer and lived in Sydney, working as a barman.
Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney he served on the Western Front as a gunner in the 1st Field Artillery Brigade. In October 1917 he was killed at the battle for Passchendaele near Ypres.
His uncle living in England was found after the war.
Anders Alfred Moody (his original name was Modig) was born near Jeppo in Finland. He came to Australia in 1905 and worked in the Randwick railway workshops.
He served in the AIF as a gunner in the 2nd Division ammunition column.
Returning to Australia he married an Australian woman, Lillian Beatrice Smith, and lived in Sydney working as iron worker and pit assistant.
Russian Anzacs