Russian Anzacs

Today we celebrate lives of three Latvian born servicemen.

Didrich Rozenfeld from Libava (now Liepaja, Latvia) was probably of Baltic German origin. He came to South Australia in 1909 as a sailor and lived in Port Pirie.
In Gallipoli he fought in the 9th Light Horse Regiment and continued to fight on the Western Front as a gunner in an artillery brigade.
In September 1917 he died in Belgium as a result of an accident and was buried in Hazebrouck cemetery. His mother, living in Revel (Tallinn), was located after the war and received an Australian pension.

Edward Beglot was born in Riga, but his ethnic origin remains unknown. While in Russia he was an apprentice on the railway and served for 3 years in the artillery in the Russian Army. Arriving in Australia in 1910, he worked as an engine fitter.
He enlisted in the AIF in South Australia and served in the 9th Light Horse Regiment, but deserted before embarkation, for reasons which remain unclear.
He lived in Melbourne and Sydney, working as a fitter and turner.

John Reineke from Libava was, most probably, of German descent. Arriving to Australia in 1909, he had worked as a labourer at Greenvale, north of Melbourne.
He served with the Light Horse Regiment in Gallipoli and then in Egypt. Taking part in the famous raid on Beersheba on 31 October 1917, he was hit in the stomach with a bullet whilst charging, and died at a field ambulance station.