One of Australia’s most renowned soldiers, Lt Tom Derrick, VC, DCM (right), congratulates his friend Lt Reg Saunders following their graduation from an Officer Cadet Training Unit in 1944.
This photo shows clearly the proper appearance of the slouch hat and service dress, with various national, rank and unit insignia including colour patches. Unusually, both Derrick and Saunders returned to their original units (2/48th and 2/7th Bns, respectively) on receiving their commissions. Saunders was the first Aboriginal commissioned in the Australian Army, where he reported encountering less prejudice than in civilian life. By law the Army was not supposed to recruit Aborigines, but a large number enlisted in the AIF early on.
Like Saunders, Tom Derrick was a superb fighter and natural leader who rose from humble origins through merit; the Second AIF gave opportunities for many recruits to exercise leadership. On 25 November 1943, Sgt Derrick already a hero of North Africa, who earned his VC by clearing ten Japanese posts on the Sattelberg heights in New Guinea - famously raised the Australian flag on that summit. Lieutenant Derrick would be killed at Tarakan in May 1945 - a loss that epitomized the waste of that bitter and unnecessary campaign, which has justifiably been called ‘an Australian tragedy’.
(Australian War Memorial 083166)