Ksenofont Kozachuk, a Ukrainian from Kosivka in Kiev Province, came to Australia in 1914, after spending a year in Canada and the USA. In Australia he worked as a miner, first in Kurri Kurri and then in Mount Morgan, and as a cane cutter in North Queensland.
He enlisted in the AIF in Cairns, but was discharged a month later as medically unfit.
After his discharge he continued his occupation as a cane cutter and a trimmer on the ships. In 1921 he married an Australian girl, Bessie Morris, and they settled in Collinsville, where Ksenofont worked in a coal mine. They had three children, but the marriage did not last. In 1926 Ksenofont made a trip to the New Guinea goldfields, but without success, and returned to his work as a coal miner. He died in 1987 aged 96.
Cemon Afendikoff, from Odessa, was probably of Greek origin. He came to Australia in 1915 as a seaman.
Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney, he served with the 20th Battalion on the Western Front. In March 1917, at the battle for Lagnicourt, he was wounded in the thigh; just after recovering he was wounded again in May 1917 at Bullecourt, in the arm. In January 1918 he returned to his battalion and was severely gassed in May 1918. Nevertheless he recovered and finished the war on the battlefront.
After the war he carried his swag all over Australia, from Nimitabel in the Snowy Mountains to Gordonvale in North Queensland.
Ezir (Elizar) Ananieff, a Russian from Tara in Tomsk Province in Siberia, came to Australia in about 1913 and worked as a miner.
He enlisted in the AIF in Sydney, together with Afendikoff, was allocated to a tunnelling company, but discharged three months later. In February 1917 he made one more attempt to enlist in the AIF, but was rejected as medically unfit (he had a broken leg).
After the war he settled in Maranboy in the Northern Territory, working as a tin miner.
Cheslav Evaschkevicht, a Belarusian from Minsk (although he also claimed to be born in Odessa) came to Australia in 1915.
Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne, he received a gunshot wound in the thigh while still in the training camp and was discharged in November 1916 with the note ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’.
In 1917 he married an Australian girl, Myra Victoria Shacklock, and disappears from records soon after that.
Sergius Forster was a Russian subject born in New York. Soon after his birth his family returned to Russia and seven years later moved to London. Educated in England, he came to Melbourne in 1913 and worked as a clerk.
Enlisting in the AIF, he served with the 39th Battalion on the Western Front. In June 1917 he was gassed and transferred to England, where he worked in the AIF depot Headquarters. Returning to Australia in 1919 he reenlisted in 1920 and was in the home service in a supply and transport unit.
After the war he lived in Melbourne working as a clerk and printer.
Russian Anzacs