Story text reproduced (with minor edits) with permission from the copyright holders, the Australian Jewish Historical Society on behalf of Peter M. Allen.

Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn was born on 15 May 1891, in Esk (200 km north-west of Brisbane), Queensland, to Abigail (née Rosenzweig) – who had taught Hebrew in Melbourne - and Saul ‘Sali’ Mendelsohn, a storekeeper/businessman at Esk and Nanango, who also became a well-known sometime bush balladeer.

After Sali died in 1897, Abigail moved her six children to Sydney, where she managed to support them by selling insurance and moved to Raglan St, Mosman. Berrol attended Fort Street Boys’ High School, was attached to the Naval Brigade for five years and was 2nd Lieutenant in the 19th Infantry for two years, in charge of the machine-gun section. For nine years he worked as a clerk for Perdriau Rubber Co. (that later merged with Dunlop Rubber) and was an early member of the Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club. In fact, the newsletter for his former high school noted:

On 5 June 1915 he was commissioned as 2nd Lt. Berrol Mendelsohn in the AIF, age 24, and embarked Sydney with the 2nd Reinforcements of 17th Battalion aboard HMAT A23 Suffolk on 28 July.

From Egypt, they landed at Gallipoli on 18 September, six weeks after the rest of the battalion. It was responsible for the defence of Quinn's Post, one of the most contested places along the Anzac front. He was then attached to the 18th Battalion one month before they evacuated in December back to Egypt.

Whilst training there and the AIF effectively doubled in size, Berrol was allotted to 55th Battalion, part of the new 14th Brigade, then on 3 April 1916, promoted Lieutenant.

Berrol sent a cable home from Egypt, just prior to the battalion sailing from Alexandria on 19 June to Marseilles and entrained to the north of France. With the Australian 5th Division and the British 61st Division, they entered the frontline trenches for the first time on 12 July and fought the AIF’s first major battle on the Western Front at Fleurbaix, just a week later 19-20 July 1916.

Although in reserve, the 55th was quickly committed to the attack and eventually played a critical role, forming the rear-guard for the 14th Brigade's withdrawal. In Berrol’s Red Cross Record, Sgt Armstrong later stated:

Now known as the Battle of Fromelles, it was a complete disaster, resulting in heavy allied casualties, including over 2,000 Australian dead, at least ten of whom were Jewish.

After receiving advice that Berrol, age 25, was Killed in Action on 20 July 1916, Abigail wrote to the Army seeking more information, whilst confiding:

Some months later, via the Red Cross, she received a trunk containing his possessions including a prayer book and his identity disc imprinted with the letter ‘J’ signifying his Jewish faith. She was so surprised that the Germans had also returned a purse containing money, that she wanted to contact whomever had paid “tribute from one brave man to another brave man.”

Abigail received several letters from Berrol’s fellow officers, including:

The Rev. D. I. Freedman, Jewish Chaplain with the Anzac Corps, wrote:

Like the next-of-kin of all the other 1300 lost soldiers whose bodies were not identified and names are inscribed on the memorial wall at VC Corner Cemetery, Abigail was tormented the rest of her life with not knowing where his body lay and corresponded with the Army for years, trying to make sense of his death.

From the 1990’s, amateur historian Lambis Englezos and others worked tirelessly to convince the Army authorities that at Pheasant Wood near Fromelles, there were forgotten, mass burial pits which had not been identified by grave recovery parties after the war.

In 2008 archaeologists confirmed that 250 Australian soldiers were buried there by the Germans. The project to recover, identify - with help of relatives’ DNA - and rebury the ‘Lost Diggers of Fromelles’ reached its climax in July 2010 with 94 identified, including Lt Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn. He is the only one of the nine lost Jewish diggers identified, to date.

On 19 July 2010, thousands of people from Australia, Britain and France attended the dedication of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery and a British Chaplain, Rabbi Saunders, consecrated the grave of Lt Berrol Lazar Mendelsohn – 94 years after his death – with his grand-nephews/nieces, descendants, Jewish ex-servicemen and others present. His headstone is inscribed:

Links to Unofficial Records

Australian Jewish Historical Society: MENDELSOHN, Berrol

NLA Call No FERG/4003: Australian Jewry Book of Honour: The Great War, 1914-1918, Harold Boas, 1923