Havercroft wrote to the paper hoping someone might send her a photo of a poppy next to the name of a distant family member at the Australia War Memorial, 100 years from the day he'd died in the Battle of Passchendaele.

It was the second letter she'd ever written to the editor and she didn't think The Canberra Times would even publish it.

"I thought that because beautiful James Herman Breuer died on this day in the mud of Passchendaele, I had to reach out and give it a try," she said from Perth.

Havercroft had no idea her letter had made it into the paper until she started receiving phone calls from the memorial.

A transcription error from her hand written note led to a the misspelling of Breuer's name as Brewer, and people were finding it difficult to locate his memorial among the thousands of names.

A number of them bumped into one another and, upon realising they were on the same mission, they teamed up to find Breuer.

"All these people were talking to one other, looking for James Breuer, jockeying for positions to place poppies," she laughed.

"I woke up and saw all these messages on my phone – people were calling from the war memorial to find out where he was."

Once they found his name, people placed their poppies next to it and took photos to send to Havercroft.

"Without fail, all of those lovely people who rang me went on to send beautiful letters, notes and photos," she said.

She received 24 packages in the mail, containing 70 photos of James Breuer's poppy-laden memorial – all of them from complete strangers.

One couple even promised they would visit the AWM at 3.43am to see Breuer's name projected upon the walls.

The enormity of the response left Havercroft "overwhelmed, joyful and tearful".

"It's something completely out of left field," she said.

"It just goes to show how ordinary, everyday people can just take up the cudgels and away they go."

Havercroft never had the chance to meet Breuer – her second cousin, once removed – but said he'd always held a special place in her heart.

Breuer's father was born in Germany but had become naturalised in Australia decades before the outbreak of the First World War.

In a tragic twist of fate, Breuer, who a few years earlier had won a scholarship to study engineering, died fighting the German army.

He was only 23 at the time.

According to the Australian War Memorial, almost 11,000 Australians died in just over a week of fighting in the Battle of Passchendaele.

Havercroft was thankful for the people who helped commemorate the life one of those Australians whose life was cut far too short.

"I just think all the Canberrans I've talked to are such lovely people," she said.

"I'm so happy for my James."