Lieutenant Thomas Derrick VC DCM (right) shakes hands with Lieutenant Reginald Saunders following their successful graduation from the Officer’s Cadet Training Unit at Seymour, Victoria, 1944. Keith Carr Rainsford, AWM 083166
Reginald Saunders was born near Purnim, Victoria, on the Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve in 1920. “Reg”, as he was known, was named in honour of his uncle, William Reginald Rawlings, who had earned a Military Medal for his bravery in the First World War. Reg’s father, Chris, had also served in the First World War. Raised by their grandmother after their mother died in 1924, Reg and his younger brother, Harry, remained close to their father, and the three later opened a sawmilling business. When his father talked about the First World War, Reg listened with “ears as big as footballs”, and at the outbreak of the Second World War he was eager to volunteer for service.