One of 14 Auburn Memorial men killed in the 3rd Battle of Ypres in October 1917 was miner, 3107 Private John James Remilton, 26, whose wife Cecilia lived in Parramatta Road, Auburn. Remilton was in the the AIF for two years and three months, quite a long time compared to most other Auburn Memorial men. However, with training in Australia, the sea voyages, six months in Egypt, and four months in hospitals in France and England, Remilton’s time at the front was less than a year. Remilton enlisted on 16 July 1915 but there is no record of his embarkation nor of any service on Gallipoli. Most recruits of July 1915 were too late for Gallipoli but Remilton must have arrived in Egypt by the cut-off date of 31 December 1915 for he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star. Allocated to the 56th Battalion, Fifth Australian division, Remilton had only one ‘crime’ entered on his record. He was awarded one day of Field Punishment Number 2 for ’talking in the ranks’. Remilton arrived in France on 29 June 1916 but almost immediately he was evacuated to Leicester (United Kingdom) General Hospital with appendicitis. He spent four months in the UK recovering, returning to his battalion in Belgium in January 1917. There was little action over the freezing winter season, then Remilton spent April 1917 in hospital with gas poisoning. On 18 October 1917, Remilton suffered multiple wounds to his arms and legs and he died of wounds two days later. He was buried in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery at Poperinge in Belgium. Cecila received his medals and a pension of two pounds per fortnight, plus another pound per fortnight for their child.