Ernest Hyalmar Kortman was born in Helsingfors (Helsinki) and came to Australia in 1909, probably as a seaman. He lived in Port Pirie, Yorktown and Edithburgh in South Australia.
He served on the Western Front in the 15th and 25th Artillery brigades and was killed in August 1917 in Belgium.
Edward Croker, a Jewish man from Goldingen (Kuldiga) in Latvia, was born as Crakowsky. He came to Western Australia in 1909 and worked as a fruitirer and commercial traveller.
Enlisting in the AIF, he did not serve long and was discharged at his own request.
After the war he married Rose Dryen and lived in Melbourne.
Anthony Minkshlin was born in Libava (Liepaja) in Latvia and came to Australia as a seaman.
He served in the Light Horse regiment on the Western Front as a trooper. After the Armistice he joined the British Army and was sent to Russia with the Russian Relief Force, for which he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.
After the war he returned to Latvia, but in 1923 sailed back to Australia.
Edwin Nicholas Rowehl was born in Libava too, and came to Australia in 1915 as a sailor on the ship Gunda, which he deserted with three other men from the Russian Empire. One of them was his brother, who enlisted a few months later.
While serving in the AIF as a sapper, he trained with the wireless signal company.
After the war he worked as a stevedore in Port Melbourne. In 1946 he placed an advertisement in the newspaper commemorating the passing of his comrade Fred Keal.
Bernard Turkulain, a Finnish seaman from Vyborg, came to South Australia in 1910 on the Russian ship Sopernik. He worked as a butcher’s labourer in Adelaide, married an Australian girl, Alice Mary, and had a daughter.
He served with the 27th Battalion on the Western Front and in 1917 was returned to Australia as medically unfit.
Russian Anzacs