Evan Hudson.
Throughout his time at university Hudson was with the New Zealand Engineers. He was such a strapping young man that he was permitted to join the unit despite his youth because he couldn't find a senior cadet uniform big enough to fit him. He flew through exams to earn a commission as a second lieutenant and attested for active service in early 1917.
Hudson sailed with the NZ Expeditionary Force on March 2, 1918, part of the 35th reinforcements.
He spent three months at Brocton Military Camp near Birmingham before leaving for northwest France and A Company, 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade as an Engineer Officer.
By late August he was ready to take part in the Allied plan to push the German Army back towards the Hindenburg Line. The Allies' key objective was the Trescault Spur, an area of high ground which gave occupying German forces control of adjacent territory, including the villages of Havrincourt and Epehy.
To reach the ridge, the New Zealanders had to fight to capture countryside riddled with a maze of old Allied trenches which the Germans had retaken. The action which cost Hudson his life started at 4am on September 9, 1918.
Advancing New Zealand soldiers met far tougher resistance than expected. Fresh German troops pinned them down with machine-gun and artillery fire. Exploding shrapnel and gas-filled shells rained down on the New Zealanders.
During the fierce exchanges, 22-year-old Hudson became yet another casualty of the war.
His father Harold left funds in his will for a University of Auckland scholarship to honour his son. Set up in 1949, it supports engineering students. Under its terms they can borrow Evan Hudson's sword for military occasions.
On the Auckland waterfront, Lieutenant Hudson's name is inscribed on the Auckland Harbour Board memorial. At the entrance to St Aiden's Church in Remuera, a brass plate on a beam in a lychgate funded by the Hudson family pays tribute to Evan and others who "gave their lives in the great war for civilisation".
