William Brining

Alias William Bertul Brining

Born 1886        Place Riga, Latvia

Ethnic origin Latvian        Religion Lutheran

Mother Brining, Anna

Arrived at Australia -

Residence before enlistment -

Occupation seaman/labourer

Service

service number 3254A   enlisted 18.04.1917   POE Newcastle

unit 36th Battalion, 34th Battalion   rank Private

place Western Front,1918

final fate KIA 31.08.1918

cemetery 511 Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Naturalisation served as Russian subject

Materials digitised service records (NAA)

                digitised Roll of Honour card (AWM)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

The sudden charge on Mont St Quentin on 31 August [1918] by several battalions of the 2nd Division (by now some battalions had only 300 men fit to fight) took the Germans by surprise, and many fled or were surrounded. But the Australians had many casualties, too. Among the fallen were three former seaman: Jack Aloe, who had failed in his bid to be granted naturalisation on the eve of his enlistment, William Brining, and Jacob Leffow. The last to arrive in Australia, the last to enlist — there is probably some reasonable explanation that accounts for the high rate of casualties among seamen in these last weeks of the war. And yet the fate of these vagabonds dying on the crippled earth seems especially tragic.

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