Russian Anzacs

John Wilhelm Nordstrom, a Finnish seaman from Abo (Turku), came to Australia in 1913 and worked as a fruit grower and farmer in Cleveland, Queensland.
He served with the 15th Battalion on the Western Front. In 1918, being teased by other soldiers for being ‘a Russian’, he left his battalion and was court martialled, sentenced for 2 years. The sentence was later suspended and after the war he worked in the Grave registration department.
After the war he returned to Cleveland, but disappears from the records soon after that.

Israel Heselev came from a Jewish family from Guliay Pole in Ukraine. He came to Australia in 1906 with his brother. First they worked in Broken Hill, but later moved to Melbourne, where both brothers worked as musicians.
Israel enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne, but was discharged six weeks later.
He married Carrie Benness and lived in Melbourne, working as a manufacturing furrier and fur merchant.

Hugo Edmund Haapaniemi, a Finnish seaman from Wasa, lived in Queensland.
Enlisting in the AIF as Hugo Asplund, he served with the 15th Battalion on the Western Front. In October 1917 he died of wounds at the battle for Passchendaele.
His mother in Finland was found after the war.

Emile Auguste Tardent was born in Nikolaev in Ukraine. He came from the family of a Swiss teacher and journalist, Henry Alexis Tardent, who lived in Ukraine for many years, but in 1887 emigrated with his family to Australia. Emile grew up in Queensland working as a land ranger. By the time of his enlistment in the AIF he was married and had four children.
He served with the 42nd Battalion on the Western Front. In August 1918 he was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery in the Amiens advance. He was wounded in the hip in the same battle. His younger brother Edward Felix and cousin Oswald Urban, born in Australia, were killed on the Western Front; his brother Jules Louis also served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
After the war Emile lived with his family at Wynnum in Queensland, working as a journalist and being actively involved in the local RSSILA sub-branch activities.

Morris Leneve, a Jewish man most likely from Kiev, came to Sydney in 1912 and worked as a tailor.
Enlisting in the AIF as Myer Levin, he deserted five months later, was apprehended and court martialled in Australia.
After the war he married Daphne Warren. His son Maurice Lionel served in the AIF in WWII in Rabaul.