Reg Saunders (1920–1990) 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 in 1944 and 1945. 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, 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 (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 for his community service. He died in 1990, aged 69.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Saunders

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1671:

Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood

1873:

Panic of 1873: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, following two years of overexpansion in the German and Austro-Hungarian economies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873

1915:

British forces launched the Battle of Aubers Ridge, an offensive on the Western Front which was part of the larger French Second Battle of Artois. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aubers_Ridge

1961:

In a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, FCC chairman Newton N. Minow described commercial television programming as "a vast wasteland". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_and_the_Public_Interest

2005:

Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

green gown: (now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity, especially a woman's loss of virginity. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us — by obligations, not by rights.   --José Ortega y Gasset https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ortega_y_Gasset