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Smoishen, Novok, Komesaroff, Walk, Taking

Abraham Smoishen

  • Abraham Smoishen, a Jewish man from Kherson Province in Ukraine, came to Sydney before the war and worked as a tailor. In 1912 he married Bertha Landes and had two children by the time of his enlistment in the AIF.
  • He served with Light Horse Field Ambulance in Egypt.
  • In the 1920s he left his family and moved to London.

Frank Novok

  • Frank Novok, a Polish man from Lublin, by the time of his enlistment in the AIF, was working as a miner in Boulder City in Western Australia.
  • He served as a sapper with the 3rd Tunneling Company on the Western Front.
  • After the war he was discharged in London, intending to work for the Empire Waterproof Company.

Peter Komesaroff

  • Peter Komesaroff, a Jewish youth, born in the agricultural colony of Andreevka in Ukraine, came to Melbourne in 1913 with his family. In Australia he worked as a draper and commercial traveler.
  • Enlisting in the AIF in the age of 17 in Cootamundra, he served with the 56th Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1917, at the battle for Louveral, he was wounded in the thigh.
  • After the war he married Sarah Horowitz Isaacman from Odessa and lived with his family in Melbourne working as a travelling optician. Throughout his life he was actively involved in Jewish communal life.

Andrew Walk

  • Andrew Walk, a seaman from Dago (Saaremaa) Island in Estonia, came to Australia in 1914.
  • Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney, he served with the 13th Battalion on the Western Front. In January 1917 he was killed near Bapaume.
  • His relatives in Estonia were found after the war and received his medals.

Otto Taking

  • Otto Taking, also a seaman from Dago, came to Australia in 1912 from New Zealand.
  • Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne, he served with the 46th Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1917 he was wounded at Bullecourt in the back and left arm and transferred to to a hospital in England. He had numerous AWLs throughout his service and even managed to miss his transport on the way back to Australia.
  • After the war he continued seafaring.