Johannes Lembit

Born 24.05.1893     Place Pärnu, Estonia      Ethnic origin Estonian    Religion Presbyterian

Father Lembit, Mihkel      Mother Lembit, Liisu

Brother Lembit, Alexander

Arrived at Australia ca 1914

Residence before enlistment Sydney

Occupation seaman, 1916 labourer, after the war worked on water front

Service

service number 6510   enlisted 9.05.1916 POE Sydney

unit 4th Battalion   rank Private, Lance Corporal, Temporary Corporal, Corporal, Temporary Sergeant, Sergeant

place Western Front, 1917-1918      casualties WIA 1918

final fate RTA 10.12.1918       discharged 30.03.1919 MU

Naturalisation 1937

Residence after the war Sydney

Family wife Anna Marie Lembit, son Valdek, b. 1924

Died 3.09.1988

Materials naturalisation (NAA)

digitised service records (NAA)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

In their day-to-day trench-life Australians accepted the Russianness of their comrades as some sort of harmless peculiarity. Valdek Lembit talks about his father Johannes: ‘He was a wrestler and they used to have an army wrestling championship, and I think he won that. He swam across the Baltic Sea and came second at the race. He was a bit of a devil in his young years and I believe my father was known as the “mad Russian” by his fellow soldiers.’ (the irony being that, ethnically, he was in fact Estonian).

    [...] Johannes Lembit went back to his native Estonia after the war, married there and in 1926 returned to Australia with his wife and son Valdek, who recalls: ‘After settling in Australia we had a few Estonian friends, but my parents were keen to assimilate and spoke English as much as possible. I know no Estonian.’

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