Emaniol Salikis was born in Samos, Greece in 1892. He emigrated to Australia and was working as a hairdresser when he became a naturalised British citizen in 1915. Citizenship enabled him to enlist in the Australian Imperial Forces, and he immediately did so. Leaving his new wife Annie, he embarked with reinforcements for the 5th Battalion in October 1915.
After training in Egypt, Salikis joined his battalion on the Western Front in 1916. He suffered a bruised leg and shell shock in August and then in September sustained a shrapnel wound which affected his eyesight. He was repatriated to Australia and discharged in July 1917.
Salikis was not completely blind and still keen to serve. He enlisted twice more in 1919, for 32 days as a military policeman, and 78 days as a guard on the Domain – the land on which the Shrine of Remembrance now stands.
Reproduced courtesy of Australian War Memorial
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