Joe Flick said his grandfather, Michael, was one of 1000 Indigenous Australians who enlisted in the global conflict that centred on Europe from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918.

A member of the 29th Battalion, he survived the horrors of the Western Front in France and returned home to Collarenebri.

"Pop would sometimes talk about places like Polygon Wood and Fromelles but those far away places didn't mean a lot to me until I went to France with an Indigenous rugby league team," Joe said.

"Our group was driving towards the Somme battlefields when I saw a sign for Villers-Bretonneux. I instantly recognised the town was where Pop had been wounded and gassed.

"That was the trigger for me to start researching his story and the stories of other Indigenous soldiers. It has been an incredible journey of discovery.

"For the last three years I have been in France for Remembrance Day. Three-and-a-half years ago I would never have imagined even going to France, let alone working with the people from the Franco-Australian Museum in Villers-Bretonneux and doing presentations for French school students."

Joe's association with the museum began when he toured the attraction and saw a Koori flag.

"There was a photo of an Aboriginal digger in front of a group of soldiers," he said.

"The text said 289 Aboriginal people served in World War I. I knew that figure was far too low and didn't do justice to our mob back home in Australia.

"I talked to the museum about helping them put together a better display and emails went back and forth when I returned home.

"Brendan Nelson, the director of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, is a mate of mine and he helped me put together a heap of resources.

"I went back to France with all sorts of things, including a slouch hat and didgeridoo. It was tremendous to be able to assist the museum and talk to schools in Villers-Bretonneux.

"The people of the area have a high regard for Australia because so many of our soldiers gave their lives to recapture the town in April 1918.

"There are kangaroo emblems and a heap of Aussie names, like the Melbourne pub and the Victoria school where a sign in the playground says 'Do not forget Australia'."

Joe is overseas again this month, accompanying under 17 rugby league players participating in the 2015 Young Achievers Tour of France and Italy.

The group will participate in Remembrance Day celebrations in Villers-Bretonneux on November 11 as guests of the town's mayor.

Activities will include visits to the Franco-Australian Museum and war cemeteries, where wooden crosses will be placed on the graves of Australian soldiers.

"The boys will be writing on the crosses," Joe said.

"Messages have also been written by the Dubbo-based group Family and Friends of the 1st AIF.

"The tour is about much more than playing rugby league and broadening the horizons of the young players. It is about remembering the Australian soldiers - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - who fought in World War I."

Joe will be making private visits from Villers-Bretonneux to war cemeteries at Pernoise and Daours where Indigenous soldiers Thomas Dodd of Walgett and William Irwin of Coonabarabran are buried.

He is also travelling to England to pay his respects to Joseph Knight, a young Indigenous soldier from Bourke who enlisted at Dubbo.

"Joseph served in World War I with his brothers Albert and William," Joe said.

"Albert was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. William received the Military Medal.

"Joseph sailed from Australia in December 1916 and was sent to a training camp at Salisbury. He died of acute pneumonia on February 17, 1917 and was buried at the St Lawrence's Church cemetery at Stratford-sub-Castle.

"My idea was to simply visit and photograph the grave and I contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and church to see if it was going to be OK.

"The Reverend Tessa Mann asked if I would like to have a service in the church and things snowballed from there.

"I wrote another email to John Glenn, the member of Parliament for the area, and he agreed to give a welcome at the service.

"Representatives from the British and Australian armies are attending and children from St Lawrence's Primary School will sing the British and Australian anthems.

"The students have been working on a research project on the soldiers buried in the cemetery.

"The Australian War Memorial has provided a slouch hat and replica copies of Joseph's medals to be presented to the school.

"Steve Howarth from Bourke, who is related to the Knight family, will be playing an important role. He will sprinkle soil collected from the Bourke area over Joseph's grave. The ceremony will be a way of connecting Joseph back to country."

Joe said his grandfather, the Knight brothers, and other Indigenous men enlisted at a time when the Australian government was initially reluctant to accept Aboriginal soldiers.

"The words 'Not of European descent' were scrawled across many enlistment papers," he said.

"As the injury toll mounted the army decided to take whoever they could get."

Michael Flick returned to Collarenbri with Indigenous soldiers Harry Mason and George Combo.

"Racism and discrimination stopped Pop and his mates from entering the Returned Servicemen's Club," Joe said.

"They couldn't get soldier settlement blocks like the other servicemen and on Anzac Day they were required to remain in a little fenced off enclosure, separate to everyone else.

"It is incredible that the names of Indigenous soldiers were not included on the town's roll of honour. I made a point of correcting that omission.

"I also organised an Anzac Day dawn service at the Aboriginal cemetery in Collarenebri and gave the local school a banner that said 'Do not forget the Anzacs'.

"All soldiers who served deserve recognition. They are part of the community."

Joe said he forgives the people who were responsible for the racism his grandfather suffered after the war and the authorities who sent his grandmothers from Angledool Station to Cootamundra Girls' Home as part of the stolen generation.

"I forgive what happened but I don't forget," he said.

"It has never been any intention of mine to make people feel guilty because the past is what it is. You need to accept what has happened but also learn from it.

"I have gained a great deal from the research I have done into Indigenous diggers who served in World War I. It has been very emotional.

"Organising the dawn service at Collarenebri meant more to me than going to France and seeing where my grandfather fought.

"It was a chance to acknowledge three Aboriginal soldiers who were treated badly when they returned from war.

"There were no complaints when I put their names on the honour roll. A lot of people nodded and said it was about time."