Reginald Saunders And The Australian Defence - 995 Words

Reginald Saunders Reginald Saunders was born on the 7 August 1920 from the Gunditijmara people in Victoria. Since 1901 Aboriginal Australians have enlisted and served for the Australian Defence Force. Reg was a member of Australian Infantry Force, 2/7th Battalion of the 6th Australian Division. In August 1942, he was posted back into the 2/7th Battalion and went to New Guinea. Reg was promoted to a commissioned rank in New Guinea. He was the first Aboriginal Australian to achieve that level of command in the Australian Army. He attended the Officer Training School at the Infantry Wing of the Officer Cadet Training Unit. (Australian War Memorial, 2009) In December 1944, Reg graduated as a lieutenant. In 1951, he went to the Korean War. He received a promotion to captain in charge of â€Å"C† Company of the 3rd Battalion. Reg left Korea in October 1952. He then resigned from the regular army in 1954. He became the president of a sub-branch of the RSL. In 1969, he was employed as a liaison officer of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs until his retirement in 1981. In 1971, he was awarded an MBE, and he was also appointed to the Council of the Australian War Memorial in July 1985. (Australian Army, n.d) Reg passed away on Friday the 2nd of March 1991, aged 69. Neville Bonner Neville Bonner was born the year of 1922. In 1946, he worked at the Palm Island Aboriginal settlement; he managed to work himself up to the position of assistant settlement overseer. In 1960, Bonner