Les Folk was the secretary and treasurer of the City soccer club in Toowoomba before the war, but had moved to Narrabri by the time he enlisted in August 1915.
He was assigned to the Light Horse Depot Regiment at Menangle Park in NSW with the rank of Sergeant-Major. In May 1916 he married in Florence Wallace in a ceremony performed by the 6th Light Horse chaplain Rev. Riley. The newly married pair visited Toowoomba in July, with the Darling Downs Gazette reporting that Folk was soon expected to leave for Europe.
Instead, Folk would never leave the country as he was discharged a month later as medically unfit due to chronic colitis. Despite this, his name was added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board in 1918.
He later worked as a stock agent in Cooma and then moved to Melbourne, occasionally visiting Toowoomba to see family and friends.