Russian Anzacs

Today we celebrate the lives of three servicemen:

A Finn from Helsingfors (Helsinki), he came to Australia in 1906, working as a telephone mechanic.
Sailed to Gallipoli, leaving his young family behind in Sydney. Was wounded soon after landing but recuperated and served on the Western Front in 1916-1918.
After the war, he raised a large family in Sydney. He died in the Coral Sea in a tragic accident in 1942.

Born in Syzran on Volga River, Sindeeff came from a well-off family.
He took a prominent part in political meetings in St Petersburg, so fled to the Russian Far East and in 1910, arrived in Brisbane.
Experienced the trades of a ship’s fireman, navvy, and engineer at Dubbo Freezing Works
Enlisted in the AIF in spite of Bolshevik propaganda against participation in the imperialist war.
In Gallipoli he was affected by a shell explosion during the August battles and, almost deafened, was invalided to Australia.
No trace is found of him after that. He either changed his name or returned to Russia.

Born in Odessa, Alexander fled Russia in his late teens to avoid military service, landing in South Australia in 1912 where he worked in Port Pirie, Kilkenny, Broken Hill, and Port Augusta as a motor mechanic.
Wounded at Gallipoli soon after landing, he returned to the trenches of his 10th Battalion and was taken POW by the Turks. After several months in captivity in Turkey and Bulgaria he made a daring escape and, crossing Romania and Russia, reached the British Army in Archangelsk. Smuggled to the UK, he was screened by the Court of Enquiry and continued his service on the Western Front.
Returning to Australia, he went blind and died in Sydney of heart failure, leaving behind a wife and three stepchildren.