Reginald Walter Saunders (Reg) was the first Indigenous Australian soldier to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army...

Reginald Saunders was the first Indigenous Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army, in 1945. In Korea, he served as Officer Commanding, C Company, 3RAR, leading his company through fierce fighting, including the battle at Kapyong in April 1951 for which the battalion was awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation. After having fought the battle for Hill 317, Reg finally left Korea in October 1952, and resigned from the regular army in 1954. He was the first Aboriginal serviceman to command a rifle company, and was respected and popular with his men. His biographer and friend, Harry Gordon, an Australian journalist in Korea, wrote of him: 'He was accepted unreservedly by the men who served with him because false values do not flourish among front-line soldiers.' Saunders was awarded a MBE in 1971 and he died in 1990. Artist Pamela Thalben-Ball. [AWM ART28159]

17 April 1951. Captain (Capt) Reg Saunders (right), commander of C Company, 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), shakes hands with a member of K Company, 19th Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 6th Republic of Korea (ROK) Infantry Division, which has just arrived on Salmon to relieve 3RAR. Photographer Ian Robertson. [AWM P01813.532]

He commanded an infantry company during the Korean War. Reg was a member of the Gunditjmara people and was born in Western Victoria in 1920. He came from a family that had a history of military service, his father and his uncle having served in the First World War. Reg’s own service commenced in 1940, when he and his brother enlisted during the Second World War. Reg fought with 2/7th Infantry Battalion in North Africa, Greece and Crete. In 1942, after escaping from Crete where he had been a fugitive from the Germans for almost a year, Reg returned to the 2/7th Battalion as a Sergeant in New Guinea. In 1944 he was nominated to undergo officer training and received his commission as a lieutenant in December of that year. During 1945 Reg commanded a platoon of infantry and saw action during the fighting for Wewak.

Three members of the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), confer with a North Korean interpreter (left) who is serving with the battalion. The Australian soldiers are (left to right): Warrant Officer (WO) W.J. ('Bill') Harrison, the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM); Lieutenant (Lt) Reginald Walter Saunders, second-in-command of 'A' Company; Private (Pte) W.H. ('Alby') Alberts of the Sniper Section. The men are gathered around a small campfire on which a billy is boiling. All three Australian soldiers are wearing padded windproof jackets as protection against the cold, while WO Harrison and Pte Alberts are also wearing pile caps. Lt Saunders is smoking a pipe and Pte Alberts a cigarette. The Korean interpreter, who is wearing a traditional fur-lined cap and other warm clothing, is holding a Bren gun. Photographer Robert Parker. [AWM P01813.866]

At the end of WWII Reg left the Army and took up civilian employment, but when the Korean War began he re-enlisted and was posted as an officer to the newly raised 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. Reg rose to the rank of Captain. He saw action at the Battle of Kapyong where C Company, which he commanded, was deployed on a spur of high ground in support of A and B Companies. C Company was engaged in repelling numerous Chinese assaults on the battalion positions during the battle. In 1951 Reg also participated in the Battle of Maryang San.

Reg’s fellow soldiers respected him. Harry Gordon, a journalist and Reg’s friend and biographer, said of him that ‘He was accepted unreservedly by the men who served with him because false values do not flourish among front-line soldiers.’ Following the Korean War Reg served for a time in training commands. He tired of this and left the Army in 1954. He worked in a number of jobs and eventually settled into a career as a liaison and public affairs officer with the Office of Aboriginal Affairs. In 1971 Reg was awarded the MBE. He died in 1990.