Adolf Saarijarvi

Born 13.02.1877     Place Orivesi, Tampere, Finland     Ethnic origin Finn     Religion -

Father Saarijarvi, Adolf     Mother Saarijarvi, Louisa

Arrived at Australia

            from Norway     on 24.03.1902     per Serena     disembarked at Melbourne

Residence before enlistment South Gippsland, Chinchilla, Qld

Occupation 1908 labourer, 1916 selector

Service

service number 2709A     enlisted 29.03.1916     POE Toowoomba, Qld

unit 4th Pioneer Battalion       rank Private

place Western Front, 1917-1918       casualties WIA 1918

awards MM (16.07.1918)

final fate 28.10.1918 DOW and influenza in England

cemetery details 1 Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, Britain

Naturalisation 1909

Wife Anna Janne Saarijarvi (née Tuomisto), married 1918 in London

Materials digitised naturalisation (NAA)

digitised service records (NAA)

digitised recommendation for award (AWM)

Roll of Honour card (AWM)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

Adolf Saarijarvi, a Finnish selector from Chinchilla, Queensland, was in a 4th Pioneer Battalion working-party in this battle [Villers-Bretonneux, 1918] and it was one of those occasions when pioneers had to take up their rifles and fight. Saarijarvi ‘displayed great courage and presence of mind’, his commanding officer wrote; ‘he continuously placed himself in position from which effective fire could be made from his rifle and passed messages to Lieut Reid and those about him so that men in the vicinity could be used to the best advantage’. His actions on this day won Saarijarvi a Military Medal but he did not live to see victory: wounded in August 1918 in the advance on Amiens, he died from influenza in October 1918 in England, with his Finnish wife at his side — they had married just a month before his death.

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