in his retirement, puttick authored one of the volumes of the "official history of new zealand in the second world war 1939–45", a unit history of the 25th battalion, which was published in 1960. his wife died in 1964 and in his later years, he lived in raglan, a small seaside town on the west coast of the north island. he died on 25 july 1976 in hamilton, survived by his three daughters, and was buried at karori cemetery in wellington with military honours.