Reginald "Reg" Walter Saunders was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. The son of a First World War veteran, Saunders was born in western Victoria on 7 August 1920 and brought up by his grandmother.
Reg Saunders passed away on 2 March 1990 in Canberra and was cremated with Anglican rites. His ten children survived him. The AWM holds his medals and his portrait by Pamela Thalben-Ball. In 1992 the RSL established a scholarship in his name for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women.
Captain Saunders was 69 years old at the time of his passing.
Lest We Forget.
