By the time Les Punch joined the Footscray Football Club in 1924, he was already a World War 1 veteran, having served as a Gunner in the 10th Artillery Brigade, his duties taking him to Egypt and France. He returned to Australian shores in 1919, and his Anzac story ended there — or it would have, but for a puzzling find that came to light well after his discharge.

As a footballer, Leslie George Punch excelled on his return home for his local club Preston in the Victorian Junior Football League. Considered by some to be the best centreman in the league, he came under the notice of the Bulldogs who recruited him for the 1924 season, the Dogs last in the Victorian Football Association before they joined the VFL in 1925.

At 28 years of age, Punch was no spring chicken when he joined the Bulldogs, but he slotted into the reigning VFA premiership side seamlessly. He topped off an excellent debut season by playing a solid part in Footscray's Grand Final drubbing of Williamstown.

A week later, the Dogs faced off against VFL premiers Essendon in a match billed as the Championship of Victoria. As the VFA had long been seen as the poorer cousin of the VFL, few gave Footscray a chance of beating the Dons, but against all expectations the Bulldogs stunned their more fancied opponents to win in a canter in front of 47,000 fans at the MCG.

Punch was the leading goalkicker in the match, with three, and in the Herald that evening, "Old Boy' said he played "magnificently". He was named in the best players in the Argus on the following Monday, described as being "clever and persistent".

Footscray entered the VFL the following season, and Les Punch was part of the inaugural team that took the field against Fitzroy in Round 1, 1925. The Dogs fell just short in that match, but Punch kicked a goal when they triumphed over South Melbourne the following week.

When the Bulldogs met Fitzroy in the return match in August, Punch — who had turned 30 three weeks earlier — was a star, kicking three goals as Footscray won by 41 points to avenge the opening round defeat.

Punch played out Footscray's first VFL season before returning to junior football, his time at the highest level of the game short but very productive.

And what was the puzzling find that added another chapter to Les Punch's Anzac story? It revolves around the army-issued ground sheet that bore his name.

In September 1920, well after his return to Australia, the British War Office sent a letter to the Department of Defence in Melbourne. The letter read, in part:

"A report has been received here regarding a deceased soldier of the AIF whose body was buried in a rubber ground sheet marked "L. G. PUNCH". As Gunner PUNCH is stated to have returned to Australia however, will you kindly obtain and forward a statement from him, as to whether he can offer any suggestion which would assist in the identification of a soldier buried in the ground sheet bearing his name."

Army records indicated that no one else with the name Leslie G. Punch had enlisted, so two letters were sent to Les at his East Brunswick address. For reasons unknown, the Defence Department did not receive a reply. A letter from Base Records to the Australian Graves Services office in  London, dated November 21, 1921 stated that Punch "has been communicated with on two occasions relative to the identity of the soldier whose remains were exhumed" but "no response has been received."

Whether Les Punch was ever able to explain how the unidentified soldier came to be buried in his ground sheet is not known. It remains a tantalising mystery that serves to remind us of the fickle nature of war, and that, while some of those who serve return to civilian life, others do not.

And in some cases, such as the soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice and was buried in Les Punch's ground sheet, their family never learns the exact story of their loved one's ultimate fate.