This HTML5 document contains 38 embedded RDF statements represented using HTML+Microdata notation.

The embedded RDF content will be recognized by any processor of HTML5 Microdata.

Subject Item

n2:

rdf:type

n3:

rdfs:label

Reg Saunders

rdfs:comment

Reginald Walter Saunders MBE (7 August 1920 – 2 March 1990) was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He came from a military family, his forebears having served in the Boer War and the First World War. Enlisting as a soldier in 1940, he saw action during the Second World War in North Africa, Greece and Crete before being commissioned as a lieutenant and serving as a platoon commander in New Guinea during 1944–45. His younger brother Harry also joined the Army, and was killed in 1942.

owl:sameAs

dbr:Reg_Saunders

n16:

2 3

dcterms:subject

n12: n18: n19: n21: n27: n31: n38: n42:

n7:wikiPageUsesTemplate

n8: n9: n10: n13: n20: n25: n26: n32:

n24:

1950 1940

n6:

1920-08-07

n4:

n5:

n14:

Sydney, New South Wales

n37:

Reginald Walter Saunders

n39:

Reg Saunders in 1940

n34:

Framlingham, Victoria

n28:

n29:

n15:

1990-03-02

n35:

n36:

n30:

Australia

n23:

Second World War *North African campaign *Battle of Greece *Battle of Crete *Salamaua–Lae campaign *Aitape–Wewak campaign Korean War *Battle of Kapyong *Battle of Maryang San

n43:

An Aboriginal man in a military uniform

n22:

Department of Aboriginal Affairs

n33:abstract

Reginald Walter Saunders MBE (7 August 1920 – 2 March 1990) was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He came from a military family, his forebears having served in the Boer War and the First World War. Enlisting as a soldier in 1940, he saw action during the Second World War in North Africa, Greece and Crete before being commissioned as a lieutenant and serving as a platoon commander in New Guinea during 1944–45. His younger brother Harry also joined the Army, and was killed in 1942. After the war Saunders was demobilised and returned to civilian life. He later served as a company commander with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) during the Korean War, where he fought at the Battle of Kapyong. Saunders left the Army in 1954 and worked in the logging and metal industries before joining the Office of Aboriginal Affairs (later the Department of Aboriginal Affairs) as a liaison officer in 1969. In 1971, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his community service. He died in 1990, aged 69.