Centenary Stories

To mark the Centenary of the First World War in 2014-2018, this site, in a weekly post, celebrated the Russian Anzacs who enlisted in the AIF that week.

Smagin, Volkoff, Noweetsky

Gregory Smagin

Gregory Smagin came to Brisbane from Eniseisk in Siberia soon after the war broke out, leaving his wife in Russia.
Enlisting in the 15^th Battalion in Townsville, he travelled to Gallipoli per Karoola with Glowacki and Roomianzoff. Later he served as a gunner in the 4^th Division Ammunition Column on the Western Front. In July 1918, after Russian withdrawal from the war and Britain support to the ‘White’ Russian Army, he refused soldering in the Australian Army. He was placed under close arrest, investigated, and finally returned to Australia ‘on account of Russian nationality’.
After the war Smagin married a Russian woman and lived in Innisfail, working for the city council. In 1929, during a conflict with another Russian, Nikolas Dvorik, who allegedly claimed that he was living in the trenches like a worm, Smagin initiated a court case where his AIF comrade Stanley Siwczynski came to his defense as a witness.

John Volkoff

John Volkoff, a carpenter from the village of Malyi Iukhtunur in Viatka Province, came to Brisbane in 1912 via the Far East.
He enlisted in the AIF in Townsville together with Smagin; and came to Gallipoli with the 15^th Battalion per Karoola. Two days after landing, in August 1915, he was killed in the Lone Pine battle.
His family in Malyi Iukhtunur was never found.

Leonard Noweetsky

Leonard Noweetsky was a draughtsman from Zmerinka in Ukraine; his mother lived in Khabarovsk in Siberia.
He enlisted in the AIF in Rockhampton, a week after the six ‘Russians’, and was attached to the gun section of the 26^th Battalion. He survived Gallipoli, but was killed at Tel-el-Kebir in an accident when a road-making roller came loose and hit his horses, making them bolt in fear and drag him down the road.
His mother was never found.

Six Russians from Rockhampton

On 1 April 1915 six Russians came to the recruiting depot in Rockhampton to enlist in the AIF. Two of them were Belarusians – Justin Glowacki from Zhabinka near Brest and Andrew Jabinsky from Borisov near Minsk. Two Ukrainians were from the Kiev area: Nicholas Roomianzoff was from Sabadash and Joseph Rudezky from Skvira. Russian George Vasilieff was from Vladivostok and Ossetian Thomas Habaeff came from Humalag in the Caucasus Mountains. They all were in their mid-twenties and arrived in Australia from the Russian Far East one or two years earlier. Three of them – Glowacki, Rudezky and Vasilieff – had earlier served in the Russian Army. They had a variety of occupations: Glowacki was a cook, Jabinski – an engineer, Rudezky – a chauffeur, Vasilieff – a locksmith and Habaeff and Roomianzoff were labourers. Habaeff, landing in Melbourne, followed the pattern of settlement usual for Ossetians in Australia: he worked at the Port Pirie smelters and then in mines in Broken Hill and Newcastle, until he shifted to Queensland. All the rest took the usual employment in Queensland: building railways, mining and cane cutting. Rockhampton, where they decided to enlist, was the centre of cane growing industry at the time.
Upon enlistment Glowacki (who served as Usten Glavasky) and Roomianzoff were allocated to the 9^th Battalion, while all the rest went to the newly formed 26^th Battalion and sailed to Gallipoli per Ascanius and Karoola. Although all got sick, as did many other soldiers, with conditions ranging from dysentery to frostbite, none of the six were wounded at Gallipoli. On the Western Front, where they were all transferred, they were not so lucky. In August 1916 at the battle for Pozieres, Jabinski was gassed and shell shocked, while Rudezky was wounded in the left arm. Ten days later, in the battle for Mouquet Farm, Roomianzoff was wounded in the leg and right arm; in April 1918 he was wounded once again in the right arm. In May 1917 Habaeff was severely wounded at Bullecourt, receiving penetrating gunshot wounds to his chest and back. In spite of his wounds, Roomianzoff was the only one out of the six who stayed on the front till the end of the war and saw the announcement of the armistice there. Glowacki was withdrawn from the front in September 1918 ‘for family reasons’, while wounded Rudezky and Habaeff were evacuated in 1917 as medically unfit. Jabinski and Vasilieff were discharged in 1917 in London; Vasilieff was employed by the Russian government committee there, while Jabinski worked as a munitions worker.
Glowacki’s numerous tales of his war service were preserved by his daughter Barbara Jago and were published in English and in Russian.
After the war, Vasilieff’s trail disappears. All the rest of the men returned to the North Queensland and for a while led nomadic lives, shifting from place to place in search of work. By the 1920s their life paths took them in different directions. Rudezky fell sick with TB, probably contracted during his service. While recuperating in Stanthorpe Sanatorium he courted a local girl, Agnes Burns. They married and had six daughters. He died in 1931 in Dalby. Jabinski, unable to reunite with his wife and daughter left behind in Russia, married an Australian woman, Alice Chapman. They settled in Newcastle, where he worked as a fitter. Roomianzoff led a nomadic life in North Queensland and the Northern Territory for many years, working as a labourer and waterside worker; he died in Cairns in 1974.
Thomas Habaeff (his original name was Tembulat Dudarkoevich Habaev), after years of a wandering life and work in the cane fields, choose to return to Ossetia, his motherland. At first, as a war invalid, he received an Australian pension via the British consulate in Moscow. When, during WWII, the Australian consulate was opened in the Soviet Union, they tried to locate Habaeff and learnt that he had died in 1939. Now, as the Russian archives are opening, we can learn more about his sad end: in 1938, while working as a fitter in Beslan, he was arrested by NKVD and died while in confinement.
Justin Glowacki found employment in the mid 1920s as a steward on ships on South Pacific liners. In 1927 he moved to Paris and then to Warsaw, working as a caretaker in a bank. In Warsaw he married young Stefania and they had two daughters. Justin was working as a steward on British merchant ships in the Atlantic when the Second World War broke out. He served till the end of war as a merchant seaman, while his family endured the horrors of war. In 1945 he managed to rescue them from Warsaw and send them to Australia, where their youngest daughter Barbara was born to tell their story.

Grehoff, Kocoaw, Ostrinko, Lebovetz, Brandebura

Parfeny Grehoff

Parfeny Grehoff, a veterinary doctor, came from Ust-Kamenogorsk in Siberia, landing in Brisbane in 1913. He had already lived a full life, being 43 and a widower.
Enlisting in the AIF, he served at Gallipoli with the 15^th Battalion. A few days after his arrival, he was injured falling from a cliff and evacuated to Australia. He took up poultry farming for a while, but in May 1918 he re-enlisted, this time in the AN&MEF. He served as a private in the Rabaul and Kokopo garrisons until he fell ill, when he was once again invalided back to Australia.
In 1922 he died in Queensland.

Peter Kocoaw

Peter Kocoaw (his correct name was Danil Asaievitch Kotzojeff), an Ossetian from the North Caucasus, enlisted in the AIF in Sydney, producing a consular letter.
Three months later he deserted and was never found.

Alik Ostrinko

Alik Ostrinko from Poltava in Ukraine came to Australia via the Far East in 1912.
Enlisting in the AIF as Osmirko in Brisbane, he deserted two and half months later.
He lived in Central and North Queensland working as a photographer and, according to a local paper, was an artist in this trade.

Elias Lebovetz

Elias Lebovetz, a Jewish man, was born in Lemberg (Lvov), while his parents were from Kiev. The family migrated to Palestine and in 1910 Elias came to Western Australia, where he worked as a farmer and labourer.
Enlisting in the AIF in Perth he served in the Camel Corps in Egypt. In April 1917 he was wounded near Gaza and repatriated to Australia.
After the war he moved to Melbourne where he married Perl Kozminsky. He worked as a fruiterer.

Joseph Brandebura

Joseph Brandebura from Lipno in Poland came to Australia on the eve of WWI and worked as a waiter.
Enlisting to the AIF he fought at Gallipoli with the 24^th Battalion, and on the Western Front with machine gun regiments. In May 1917 he was wounded at Bullecourt with a gunshot wound to the right leg, but he recovered and returned to duty. While on the Western Front he reached the rank of regimental sergeant major (WO1).
After the war he changed his name to Brand. He married and lived in Melbourne working as a commercial traveller. During WWII he enlisted again and served in the workshop section for three years.

Serennikoff, Kazakoff, Nyholm

Jacob Serennikoff

Jacob Serennikoff (his original name was Serebrennikoff) was born in a Jewish family in Mikhailovka near Melitopol. The family was emancipated: the children studied in Russian high schools and Jacob’s elder sister Berta participated in the revolutionary movement. When enlisting in the AIF, Jacob gave his religion as Russian Orthodox and his occupation as clerk, but his medical records indicate that his original profession was that of a botanist. Alongside this rare profession, he had a lengthy military record. During his five-year service with the Russian Dragoons, he was engaged in suppressing the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900 and fought in the Russo-Japanese war. When enlisting in the AIF, his rank was recorded as Sergeant-Major, although later he was referred to in Australian newspapers as a Colonel.
Enlisting in the AIF in Colombo, he went to Gallipoli with the 6^th Battalion. Landing on the 7^th of May 1915, two days later he received a rifle wound to his elbow, and was repatriated to Melbourne. Russian Consul-General Nikolai Abaza employed him in the embassy as a clerk and charged him with a mission to promote enlistment in the AIF of Russian emigrants. He also was empowered to provide certificates of Russian nationality to Slavs from Austro-Hungary, who could have been otherwise interned in Australia as enemy aliens. With this mission Serennikoff visited South and Western Australia in 1916.
Soon after that he married and engaged in farming. He also was involved in exploration of oil deposits on Elko Island on the Northern Territory. In 1927 he died, probably as a consequence of his tropical experience in the Northern Territory.

Alexis Kazakoff

Alexis Kazakoff came from a village near Kazan on the Volga River; he deserted his ship in Australia, working here as a labourer.
Enlisting in Cairns, he started his service at Gallipoli, becoming a fitter with the 15th Battalion, which included a number of Russians from Queensland. He fought well, being wounded in August 1915 at the battle for Hill 60. Back in Egypt he was transferred to the 11th Field Artillery Brigade and continued his service on the Western Front. In May 1918 he was made a gunner, but refused to take up his new duties, arguing at his trial, ‘I know the language well enough to be a fitter but not a gunner’. Army command was at this stage of the war desperate to utilise every available man and Kazakoff’s arguments were dismissed: he was sentenced to 35 days’ field punishment and mustered as a gunner. In September 1918 he was withdrawn from the front and returned to Australia ‘on account of Russian nationality’.
After the war he returned to work as a fitter, married an Australian girl, and had a large family with ten children.

John August Nyholm

John August Nyholm, a bricklayer from Vaasa in Finland, fought for Britain in the Boer War. In 1907 he came to Australia and as soon as WWI broke out, rushed to enlist.
He was rejected twice and underwent two surgeries to be accepted in the AIF as medically capable. At last he was accepted in the AIF in the 20^th Battalion and later transferred to the Field Artillery Brigade. He fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, where he was killed at the Somme in November 1916.

Sacklove, Henderson, Hoffman, Letman

Barney Sacklove

Barney Sacklove, a Jewish man, came from Vitebsk Province in Russia, most likely from the township of Rezekne (now in Latvia). His family moved to Scotland when he was young and enlisting in the AIF he tried to pass on as a native of Leeds. He came to Australia when the war had already broken out.
He worked for a few months as a carter and then enlisted in the AIF in Sydney in February 1915. Two weeks later he deserted from the military camp. Probably something went wrong in the camp but he did not lose his aspiration for army service. He travelled to Melbourne and enlisted there two weeks later. With the 24^th Battalion he served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front where in August 1916 he was wounded at Mouquet Farm.
After the war he returned to Melbourne and disappeared from the records.

John Henderson

John Henderson, a Finnish labourer from Mariehamn, worked in Australia in Port Pirie.
Enlisting in the AIF he served in the 10^th Battalion at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, where he was killed at the battle for Hill 60 in Hollebeke in Belgium.

Wolfe Hoffman

Wolfe Hoffman was born in Podol Province in Ukraine. He came to Western Australia in 1910 to join his relatives and worked as labourer and mill hand.
He served with the 16^th Battalion at Gallipoli where he suffered from severe dysentery. In 1917 he was transferred to Field Ambulance with which he served on the Western Front until he became sick and was returned to Australia serving with the nursing staff on the ‘Somerset’.
Returning to Australia he married and settled in Melbourne, where he opened a knitting factory. During WWII he enlisted in the AIF again and served as a corporal in the Attestation office in Melbourne.

Victor Morris Letman

Victor Morris Letman, a seaman from Tammerfors (Tampere) in Finland, came to Australia in 1901 at the age of seventeen.
Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne he served with the 24^th Battalion at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, attaining the rank of corporal. He was wounded in April 1917 at Bullecourt and rejoined his unit after recovery. In October 1917 during another major battle at Broodseinde in Ypres, he, according to his commander, ‘was severely wounded in the arm while going forward to the J.O.T. He refused to leave and went right through the attack. When the objective was attained he used his Lewis gun with great effect on [the] retreating enemy, and did splendid work at keeping down snipers’. He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery.
Returning to Australia, he married his old sweetheart Ellen (Kathleen) Smith and lived in Melbourne working as a labourer and rigger. In 1936 he was badly wounded when a car hit him from behind while he was on his bicycle. Nevertheless he enlisted in the AIF during WWII and served in Volunteer Defence Corps.

Makewitz, Whynsky, Gosker, Niskanen, Ambrosen

August Makewitz

August Makewitz, a Latvian seaman from Talsen (Talsi), came to South Australia in 1906.
He served at Gallipoli with the 27^th Battalion, then on the Western Front with the 50^th Battalion. In April 1917 at the battle for Noreuil he was severely wounded and his leg was amputated.
Returning to Australia he lived in Port Adelaide and died in 1922, living just long enough to receive his war medals.

William Whynsky

Similarly short was the life of William Whynsky, who served as Whnsky. He came from ‘Russia’, probably Ukraine, in about 1910 and worked in Helidon, Queensland as a quarryman.
With the 25^th Battalion he served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, where in August 1916 he was severely wounded at Pozieres.
After the war he worked as a stone dresser at Helidon near Toowoomba and suicided a few days before Christmas 1920.

Harry Gosker

Harry Gosker was Pole from Warsaw.
Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney, he deserted several weeks later and was never found again.

Frederick Niskanen

Frederick Niskanen from Finland before coming to Australia served for 2 years with the Russian Lifeguards. In Australia he worked as a labourer in Neerim South in Victoria.
Enlisting in the AIF, he was allocated to the Australian Flying Corps and served in India and Egypt; initially he served as a driver on mule transport, but later became an air mechanic. In April 1917 he was transferred to England.
After the war he was discharged in London and probably returned to Finland.

William Ambrosen

William Ambrosen, a rigger from Nargen in Estonia, came to Victoria in 1912.
Enlisting in Adelaide, he served at Gallipoli with the 27^th Battalion. He continued his service on the Western Front with the Field Engineers until he got sick in June 1916 and invalided to England, where he continued his service in the Provost Corp.
While in England, he married an English woman, Lottie Guyatt, settled with his family at Monxton, Hampshire, and worked as a paint maker.

Beloshapka, Harlap, Sekachoff, Tkachenko

Platon Beloshapka

Platon Beloshapka, a Ukrainian labourer from Kiev, came to Brisbane in 1912 via the Far East. His lack of English resulted in the fact that during his life in Australia he accumulated over a dozen aliases, which in fact were various misspellings of his name, to the degree that sometimes his surname was transposed with his Christian name: thus emerged Bill Plepnpp and and Bel Plotonoff.
Platon’s misadventures started soon after his enlistment in March 1915 in Kiama in New South Wales, from where he was transferred to Liverpool camp in Sydney, overstayed leave and was discharged with the formula ‘unlikely to become an efficient soldier’. Later the commander explained that the reasons for his discharge were ‘incompatibility with comrades and inability to follow military commands.’ However, Platon himself tried to explain that he could not understand the English words of command and that the soldiers threatened him as they took him for a German. He left the camp to avoid persecution by his co-servicemen.
In October 1915 “Bill Plepnpp” was arrested in Bungonia, NSW, and brought to Goulburn by the Military Police. He had been found living in the bush without food and it was thought that he was a German escapee from the Holdsworthy internment camp. Platon was sent to Sydney for further investigation and ended up in the Holdsworthy camp as a German. He was released in February 1916 after a visit from the Imperial Russian Consul who pronounced that Platon was of Russian nationality. Failing to find work, lodgings or food, Platon returned of his own volition to the camp on two occasions, nearly being shot by the sentries.
In March 1916 he was arrested in Wollongong for wearing a military hat and boots and not having a leave pass. He was brought by the Petersham police to the Victoria Barracks, Paddington, for questioning, but the officer and Platon could make no sense of what the other was saying. He was released and was allowed to retain his boots ‘as any other discharged soldier’. The cycle of misadventures continued, with Platon being convicted in May 1916 in Wee Waa for stealing food and not working. He was sentenced to one month’s hard labour in Narrabri gaol. Pending his release in July 1916, the Acting Gaoler expressed his concern that ‘a German subject’, ‘Platonff Belashapka’, was ‘a young strong man, and has a revolver and cartridges, and if not interned may cause trouble’. He was brought to Liverpool Camp for further investigation, and the officer noted in his file: ‘probably be murdered if left in this camp’, in consequence of which he was interned as a German prisoner of war in Darlinghurst Detention barracks.
The Russian Consul-General Nikolai Abaza and NSW consul T.Welch visited him in October 1916 to establish his nationality. It was obvious to all that he was a Russian and Welch informed the military authorities, that ‘by the agreement between Russian & British gov[ernment]s this man is due for compulsory enlistment in the AIF’ and ‘suggested to treat him as a military offender’. While Beloshapka ‘refused to enlist in the AIF if released’, the consuls ‘refused to give a certificate of nationality’ and he was left in the detention ‘pending proof of his Russian nationality’ for several more months. When he was finally released, his troubles with the police continued: he was arrested and detained over and over again for vagrancy and assault.
It appears that in the late 1920s he went to the USA and tried to settle there, but then returned to Australia. In 1930 he was convicted for attempted rape and sentenced to six years hard labour. He died 1962 in Queensland.

Lion Harlap

Lion Harlap’s family from Odessa migrated to the Jewish agricultural colony Rehovot in Palestine when he was a baby; he even claimed later that he was born in Rehovot rather than Odessa. In 1910 as a teenager he came to Western Australia, where his married sister Mina Zusman had settled two years earlier. A locksmith and engine fitter by trade, he worked at mills in Big Brook, and as a fruit seller in Perth. By the time of enlistment he was employed at the state brick works in Perth.
He served in the AIF in the 10^th Light Horse Regiment as a trooper in Egypt. His experience and knowledge of the Orient had been also put to good use in the army: several times he was transferred from his Light Horse Regiment to serve in the Military Police, Provost Corps, and at Headquarters. In October 1918 he had come with the advancing AIF near Rehovot, where he grew up and where his family still lived. ‘Whilst there with the Forces’, Harlap wrote, ‘I was gratified to find my parents and sisters still alive though my father, who has suffered so much at the hands of our enemies, has aged considerably.’ It was decided at this ‘joyful’ family reunion that when he received his discharge he should return directly to Palestine, to his family – and at the end of the war, he did.
He stayed in Palestine, running the Harlap Cycle Shop in Jaffa by 1924. In 1934 his Australian naturalisation was revoked, but Australia did not disappear from his life completely. In 1963 he flew to Perth for his sister Mina’s 80^th birthday.

George Peter Sekachoff

George Peter Sekachoff from Saransk in Mordovia came to Cairns in 1913 via the Far East and worked in Australia as a labourer.
He enlisted in the AIF in Townsville and served at Gallipoli with the 9^th Battalion. He continued his service on the Western Front in the 11^th Field Artillery Brigade as a saddler and gunner. In October 1918 he, together with a group of Russians, was returned to Australia ‘on the account of Russian nationality’.
Settling in Brisbane, in 1920 he married Lucy Uscinski, a sister of Polish Anzac Vincent Uscinsky, and worked as a cabinetmaker. Later on they moved to the Roma area, taking a selection at Gunnewin. Their daughter Lucy served in the AIF during WWII.

Saveliy Tkachenko

Saveliy Tkachenko was from Gusiatin in Ukraine. Like Sekachoff, he came to Queensland via the Far East in 1913, working as a labourer in Townsville.
He enlisted together with Sekachoff and served at Gallipoli with the 25^th Battalion. Suffering from ‘nerves’ in November 1915 he imposed a self-inflicted wound, was court martialled and returned to the trenches. Continuing his service at the Western Front he made several attempts to leave the Army, was court martialled again and sentenced to ‘Penal servitude for life’, although the sentence was suspended not long afterwards and he was sent back to the trenches.
Returning to Australia, he made an attempt to repatriate to Russia, but finally settled in Brisbane, working on the railway. He died in 1985, being over 90 years old.

Deonck, Boryss, Shuplakoff, Tober

William Deonck

William Deonck was born in Lida in Belarus; his original surname is unknown but his first name, as remembered by his family, was probably Thaddeus, which suggests a Belarusian or Polish origin. He came to Australia as a sailor when the war had already broken out, and deserted his ship in Newcastle.
A few days later he enlisted to the AIF and landed at Gallipoli in August 1915 with the 17th Battalion; he was one of the last to leave when the peninsula was evacuated. For his bravery there he was awarded a Military Medal. His commander, Lieutenant-Colonel E.T. Martin, wrote in his recommendation for the award, ‘As a bomber on Quinn’s Post, where bombing was exceptionally heavy, he proved himself reliable, keen and energetic. His demeanour among his comrades is invaluable owing to his cheerful disposition under the most adverse circumstances.’ In July 1916 he was wounded in the left shoulder at Pozieres, on the Western Front. Recovering in England, he was trusted to serve in the Provost Corps.
In London, he married an English girl, Kathleen Spinks, and returned with his wife to Australia. The settled in Sydney where he worked a motor engineer and painter.

Boleslav Boryss

Boleslav Boryss, a Pole from Warsaw, came to Western Australia in 1912 after service in the Russian Army. He worked as a mill-hand at the Mornington Mills.
Boryss served in the 28^th Battalion at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, where he was wounded in the knee and hip at Pozieres in July 1916 and evacuated to Australia.
After the war he married a Russian woman and settled in Sydney where he worked as fitter and second-hand dealer.

John Shuplakoff

John Shuplakoff (his true name was Ivan Shokhin), came from a village near Tver in Central Russia. Arriving in Brisbane in 1911 from the Far East, he moved to Broken Hill and Adelaide, working as a labourer.
Enlisting in the AIF, he joined the 27^th Battalion and fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. He was wounded at the battle for Pozieres a few days after Deonck and Boryss and died of wounds.
His father, a peasant from Turchaninovo, was found after the war and received his son’s medals.

Albert Michael Tober

Albert Michael Tober – he enlisted in the AIF as Michael Tober – was born in Volyn Province in Ukraine and probably had some Russian German heritage. He came to South Australia 1913 as a seaman. He worked in Adelaide as a blacksmith, motor driver and mechanic.
Enlisting in the AIF he served at Gallipoli with the 10^th Battalion. During the service he became sick and was returned to Australia as medically unfit. In 1917 he reenlisted but served in the depot only.
He married an Australian girl, Lily Teresa Lawler, during the war, and lived in New South Wales, making an unsuccessful attempt to settle in a soldier settlement in 1919.

Haimson, Azieff, Schedlin-Czarlinski

David Haimson

David Haimson, a Jewish man from Beltsy in Bessarabia (now Moldova), came to Australia in 1911. He lived in Melbourne and in Bendigo with his brother Louis, working as a presser and hawker of drapery.
Enlisting in the AIF he deserted two months later, while still in the depot.
No trace is found about him after that.

Coultschouc Azieff

Coultschouc Azieff was an Ossetian from the village Humalag in the North Caucasus. He came to Australia from the Russian Far East on the eve of war.
He was the first Ossetian to join the AIF. Enlisting in Brisbane in the 26^th Battalion he fought in the Gallipoli and on the Western Front. In October 1916 he died of wounds during the battle near Ypres.
After the war the Australian authorities managed to find his relatives in Ossetia and send them his military awards.

George Vincent De Schedlin-Czarlinski

George Vincent De Schedlin-Czarlinski was born in Warsaw in the noble cultured family, his mother was Belgian Baroness. His father Victor came to Australia in 1883 and worked as a hydrologist and engineer for the New South Wales Government. Four-year-old George came to Australia two years later with his mother and sister. In spite some financial troubles experienced by his father George received good education in Sydney (he spoke English, Polish and French) and later worked as a school teacher.
Although enlisting in the AIF in February 1915 George sailed to the active service more than a year later, as he had heart trouble. Nevertheless he reached battlefront in October 1916, but soon was transferred to England as medically unfit and worked as assistant in the military hospital.
After the war he lived in Mittagong.

Bartleson, Loosgie, Vasiliev

Rudolf Bartleson

Rudolf Bartleson, a Latvian engine fitter and sailor, came to Australia not long before the war.
He enlisted in Cairns, but did not embark with his regiment and no further records about his service were noted.
He continued his occupation as a sailor, moving to New York where he married and naturalised.

Stephen Loosgie

Stephen Loosgie, a Ukrainian, was born in the village in Chernigov Province. He came to Brisbane from the Far East in 1914 and worked on the railway construction sites.
Enlisting in the AIF, he served at Gallipoli and the Western Front with the 26^th Battalion. In March 1917 he was wounded in the forearm in battle for Lagnicourt. Returning to the trenches after recovery, he left his unit, was caught and court martialled as a deserter. He pleaded not guilty, explaining at the trial that his 3 brothers were killed while serving in the Russian Army and his old father needed his help. His commander attested him as a ‘good man in the line’. Loosgie was found not guilty in desertion and returned to the trenches. In November 1917 he was gassed at Passchendaele and in July 1918 he was wounded again, shrapnel fractured his right arm. After that he was finally returned to Australia.
He made his living opening a fruit shop on Logan Road in South Brisbane, at the centre of the Russian colony there. In 1924 he made an attempt to return to Russia, but did not go further than Harbin, finally returning back to Australia.

Theodor Vasiliev

Theodor Vasiliev was a sailor from Novaia Kalisha near St Petersburg (Petrograd).
Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne, he came to Gallipoli with the 23^rd Battalion in August 1915. In November he was severely wounded in the shoulder, invalided back to Australia and discharged. Although he was granted a pension, he made one more attempt to enlist in the Army, but was found medically unfit.
He died in a sanatorium in Heidelberg near Melbourne in 1924 and his Australian friends Mr and Mrs Tracey placed an advertisement in an Australian newspaper, commemorating his death.