"But one in particular was interesting because he was the first aboriginal that had been commissioned in the Australian Army, Reg Saunders.

"He was commissioned 2nd 7th Battalion in 6 Division during World War Two and I was very, I gave him a platoon.

"It was very interesting to see how he performed and the first chance I got I shot him out on patrol and they were hunting again for stragglers again because the Chinese had withdrawn on us and he found some and got into a fire fight with them and got them running.

"On the way back he got into another fire fight when unfortunately it was with South Korean troops who had wandered off their turf and were in his path and he shot some of them up too but it showed his aggressive, the aggression in each case."

MAJOR BEN O'DOWD