Jack Kelly died on 20 April 1918 at the 20th Casualty Station. His mother, sister and brother-in-law, who all lived in Newmarket, Brisbane, inserted a notice in The Telegraph in his memory. Kelly had been living in Toowoomba at the time of his enlistment in 1916, where he worked as a drover.
His military record was pockmarked with minor misdemeanours before being attached to the newly formed 3rd Division Salvage Company in early 1917. The role of the company was to salvage equipment from the battlefield which could be reused in the fighting, resulting in less equipment needing to be shipped to the front. He suffered gunshot wounds to the legs, back, and lung at a time when the 3rd Division undertook Peaceful Penetration raids to counter the German Spring Offensive near Villers-Bretonneux.
After the war, his family requested Kelly’s personal effects to be sent to them, but the items never arrived. They were aboard the S.S. Barunga which was bound for Australia when it was sunk by a torpedo on 15 July 1918, with all hands saved but cargo lost.
Kelly’s name was added to the Toowoomba British Association honour board in 1918, but it is unknown where he played. The only Kelly to play before the war did so for the Cities team in 1913 and 1914, while a J. Kelly who played after the war did so for a schoolboy team.