John McNeill grew up in Fairfield, Dunedin a son of Scottish parents. He joined the Otago Infantry Regiment. He was a coal miner, working in Christie's mine on Saddle Hill, and physical strength might have made up for his relatively advanced age on enlisting.
He was admitted to hospital in France on September the 18, 1917, suffering from "enteritis" - an inflammation of the intestine which is often caused by insanitary conditions affecting food and water - just the kind of conditions to be expected and guarded against in trench warfare. His condition did not improve and on January 10th, 1918 he was in the hospital at Walton-on-Thames. The New Zealand newspapers reported his admission, described as "not severe."
On the 17th of May he was placed on the "seriously ill" list - the next day he was dead. He died of an abscess in his liver. It's possible that the cause of his death went undiagnosed and was revealed by autopsy.
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| Green Island Cemetery. |
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