John Casey was a single man, aged 29 when he died of pneumonia in France on May 14, 1916. The son of Irish immigrants to New Zealand, John worked as a cheesemaker but joined up within a week of war being declared. He saw action at Gallipoli where he was wounded and then sent back to the front before being transferred to France once the Gallipoli campaign had been abandoned. He died pf pneumonia soon after arriving in France. He is buried in the Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery.

Two of John’s brothers, William and Patrick, joined up a year later and also served in France in 1916. Both went missing on 27 September 1916 in the battle of the Somme and their bodies were never recovered but they are commemorated at the Caterpillar Valley Memorial.

Dennis Rose