Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Cellarman Private Leslie Quinn, 28, is an example of an Auburn Memorial man whose time at the front was a small proportion of his time in the AIF. His service record is brief, but indicates Leslie had no wounds, hospitalisation or crimes against his name.
Leslie was the older of the two Quinn brothers who served in the First World War, the younger being Private Cecil Quinn. Though they both had previous military experience in the militia, they did not serve together in the AIF.
Leslie enlisted in September 1915 and sailed on the Medic in December 1915, along with fellow Auburn Memorial men William Harris, Alexander Hickin, Robert Webster and former Auburn Mayor, William James Johnson. He arrived in France, via Egypt, in May 1916. He was killed by random shellfire in the Nursery Sector a month later, before Australian forces had launched any major action on the Western Front. He died as the 3rd Battalion was settling in to life at the Front.
Leslie was buried in the Rue-David Military Cemetery at Fleurbaix, the village in the Nursery Sector named as a battle site on the Auburn War Memorial. Fleurbaix was the village on the British side of the line, but the action on 19-20 July, after Leslie's death, is generally known as the Battle of Fromelles, the name of the closer village that was on the German side of the line.
The Quinn brothers’ widowed mother received their medals and was granted a pension as she was dependent on them.
See: 'Soldier brothers killed in action', The Sydney Morning Herald, Fri. 8 June 1917, p8.
Leslie Quinn is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal 1914-20
- Victory Medal
