Lance Corporal Leslie Walter (Les) Derrett died on wounds on 14 October 1917, sustained in the disastrous attack on Passchendaele two days previously. He was the youngest son of George and Sarah Derrett, who lived in Vagues Road, and whose grandfather Henry established a Produce and General Merchant's Store on Main North Road next to Pattrick's Seven Oak's Butchery. He attended Papanui Public School (see memorial board below), and was a promising member of the Merivale Rugby team before his enlistment in 1916. He served in the First Battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, and was only 22 years old. He is buried with a number of other soldiers from the area in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium.