Edward Gaudzinski from Janow in Poland came to Australia from the Russian Far East in 1911 and settled in Sydney working as a tailor. In 1913 he married an Australian girl, Mabel Elsie Blatch, and by the time of his enlistment in the AIF they had two sons.
He served as a sapper with the 9th Field Company Engineers on the Western Front. In July 1917 he was wounded in the right shoulder and legs, but, recovering, returned to the front.
After the war he lived in Kogarah, working as a tailor. His son Edward served in the AIF in WWII.
Fritz Winnin, a seaman from Riga, came to Newcastle in March 1916, jumped ship, and enlisted in the AIF the next day.
He served with the 5th Battalion on the Western Front until he got sick and was repatriated to Australia.
Returning to Australia, Winnin married the widow of his mate Valdimar Hektor. They lived in Sydney, where Fritz worked as a labourer. Their children served in the AIF in WWII.
Constantine Ilin, a seaman from Aleshki in Tavrida Province in Ukraine, enlisted in the AIF together with Hektor in Newcastle.
He served with 1st Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. In December 1916 he sustained heavy wounds in the back and thigh at Flers. Evacuated to England, he underwent five operations and in July 1917 sailed on board a hospital ship to Australia.
Soon after his discharge from the army he married an Australian girl, Sarah Maud Fletcher; they settled in Newtown in Sydney, but Constantine’s health soon deteriorated and he passed away in May 1922 from complications of his wound and nephritis. His wife died the same year in Waterfall sanatorium of TB and neurasthenia.
Russian Anzacs