LEGENDARY indigenous war hero Maitland Madge will today receive special recognition at Remembrance Day events at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Private Madge, the first indigenous soldier awarded the Military Medal, was born in Cooktown in 1894 to English migrant Richard Madge and Aboriginal woman Ella. 
He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Brisbane in   August 1915 and his bravery at Pozieres on the Western Front in   August 1916 earned him his citation. Private Madge was wounded in 1916 and 1918 but survived the Somme and returned home to Queensland.
When World War II broke out, the then-45-year-old enlisted and in   August 1941 landed in Singapore with the 2/26 Battalion of the 8th Division.
He was captured by the Japanese in   February 1942 and survived two years in the hell that was Changi prison camp, where he died on   June 7, 1944.
The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will today recognise Private Madge's bravery by placing a poppy on the bronze Roll of Honour next to his name. Corporal Charles Orme will also be honoured.
Corporal Orme also died fighting in Singapore, where he was posted with the 2/19th Battalion of the 22nd Brigade. He was wounded in action in Malaya and died during the Battle of Singapore.
His body was never recovered and his sacrifice is commemorated on a panel of the Singapore Memorial at Kranji.
The royal couple will meet Corporal Orme's grandson and former commander of Australian forces in the Middle East, Major-General Craig Orme, at the memorial today.
Continuing the Remembrance Day indigenous theme at the war memorial, the Western Courtyard Gallery will be renamed the Captain Reg Saunders Gallery in honour of the first indigenous officer in the Australian Army.Capt Saunders, MBE, from western Victoria, served in World War II with the 2/7th Battalion in Greece and Crete and New Guinea and was commissioned in 1944.