SOLDIER ARCHITECTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18202, 22 September 1922, Page 9

SOLDIER ARCHITECTS.

WAR MEMORIAL DESIGNERS. FIRST AND THIRD AWARDS. HONOURABLE WAR RECORDS. A pleasing feature in connection with the award in the competition for the design of the proposed War Memorial Museum is that the winners of both the first and third prizes are returned soldiers. This is the more remarkable in that no fewer than five persons are jointly concerned in these two, awards. Of the first prize winners, Mr. H. C. Grierson served in France with the •NewZealand Rifle Brigade in 1918. Two of his brothers also saw active service. Private W. A. Grierson enlisted and served with the Main Body and was killed on Gallipoli. Another brother, Mr. C. K- Grierson, saw three years' service with the 2nd Auckland Battalion in France and was wounded. Mr. K. W, Aimer, who shared the first prize with Messrs. Grierson a*id M. K. Draffin, served overseas with the 2nd Auckland Battalion, and was wounded at Passchendaele on October 4, 1917. He was returned to New Zealand, with the rank of corporal, as unlit for further active service. A brother, Lieutenant G. V. Aimer, of the Royal Air Force, was killed in England during flying operations. Another brother, Mr. A. G. Aimer, fought m France with the 2nd Auckland Battalion, from the first Somme battle in 1916, until tho second in 1918, when he was wounded. Mr. Malcolm Keith DrafEri had a long and distinguished record of war service, tie left with the Second Reinforcements as a sapper in the Field Engineers and served right through the Gallipoli campaign. He was one of the final demolition party who were the last to leave tho beach at Anzac on the occasion of the evacuation. He proceeded with his unit to France, and in 1916 underwent a course of training at the Royal Engineer depot at Chatham. Although offered an appointment with the Imperial Forces, lie chose to remain with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and returned to the division with a commission. He served until after the armistice, reaching as far as 4 Cologne. Mr. Draffin was twice wounded, twice mentioned in despatches, and he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry on the field. Strangely enough, he and Mr. Aimer were wounded on the same day, and were admitted to the same English hospital on the same day. Mr. Draffin was in the employ of Mr. Edward Bartley before the war, and since September, 1919, he has been practising on his own account. The third prize-winners, Messrs. E. G. le Petit and G. E. Downer, both of whom received their architectural training in Auckland, also served during the war. Mr. lei Petit, who is an old boy of the Auckland Grammar School, returned to New Zealand as a hospital case in 1917. As he was unfit for further active service, he resumed practice. Mr. Downer received his early education at Feilding, and after the armistice pained an N.Z.E.F. scholarship and studied architecture in London. He afterwards made a tour of the Continent, returning to the Dominion in 1920.