The Otago Daily Times recently profiled Anthony McMaster (69), who had been told by defence officials he would likely be the youngest child of someone who fought in the 1918 battle to be at the event.
However, Glenavy farmer Bruce McCulloch (65) is about to claim that distinction.
Mr McMaster's father, Harold Yates McMaster, was a rifleman at Le Quesnoy, and was in his 60s when his son was born.
Mr McCulloch's father - David Williamson McCulloch - was a similarly late starter when it came to beginning a family.
That and the fact he was younger than Harold McMaster - David McCulloch marked his 21st birthday while on board a ship bound for Europe, while Harold McMaster enlisted at the age of 26 - cemented Bruce McCulloch's position.
"My father was with the infantry - he went over in May 1917 and was there right through to the end."
Le Quesnoy was captured by New Zealand soldiers on November 4, 1918, in the last major battle fought by Kiwi soldiers in World War 1.
While Gunner David McCulloch was behind the front lines, that did not mean he was out of danger.
"He was a gunner but he mainly drove the horses taking the guns up and back, and the ammunition," Mr McCulloch said.
"One day he was at the toilets and a shell landed very close to him, and it didn't explode. He said if it had he would have been blown to bits, so that's how lucky you can be."
A horde of McCullochs will be in France for the Le Quesnoy centenary, including Mr McCulloch's 68-year-old sister.
"My brother had caps made and we've got Dad's name and number on the side, and we've got our own jerseys made with `McCulloch tour' - there will be about 20 of us, including grandkids and great-grandkids," Mr McCulloch said.
David McCulloch died in 1976, and Bruce McCulloch took over a property which the McCullochs have farmed for 119 years.
"He got married late in life, and I was the last of the kids. My oldest brother is 72," Mr McCulloch said.
"Mum lived on the next-door farm and they would have got married sooner but for the Second World War."
