Tommy Prince, Canadian hero
2005 is the Year of the Veteran in Canada. To mark it, the National Post and Historica, a foundation that promotes Canadian history, have teamed up to bring readers some of the most compelling stories of Canadian courage and sacrifice in the wars Canadians fought during the last century. Today’s instalment looks at the heroism of Tommy Prince, Canada’s most decorated aboriginal war veteran.
Within Canada’s largest military gravesite, Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg, is the final resting place of Thomas George Prince. His tombstone is like all the others, a simple monument of white stone, with an inscribed cross below which are his name, mention of two medals, his rank, the units in which he served and the date he died, Nov. 25, 1977, at age 62.
What the headstone does not reveal is that the medals are but two of 11, and that Tommy Prince was Canada’s most decorated aboriginal war veteran. Prince made significant contributions to his country during two wars. But during his lifetime, he was largely ignored — thanks to his race and the prejudice that marked his era.
Prince grew up on the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation reserve north of Winnipeg and was sent to residential school. He defended his country bravely and with distinction during the Second World War and the Korean War. It is a great irony that he fought Nazi racism and then returned to Canada to face the racial discrimination that was an ordinary feature of daily life.
For many men on Canadian reserves, like Tommy Prince, military service meant the chance for a job and three square meals. Tommy applied but was turned down several times, despite exceeding the requirements for recruitment. He persisted and finally was accepted on June 3, 1940. He was assigned to the 1st Field Park Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. He met every challenge that came his way and excelled as a soldier.
By 1942, Prince was a Sergeant with the Canadian Parachute Battalion. He was posted to the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion and was among a select group of Canadian soldiers sent to train with an American unit to form a specialized 1,600man assault team. They became the 1st Special Service Force (1st SSF), known to the enemy as the “Devil’s Brigade.” Hollywood adopted the name as the title of a 1968 portrayal of the elite unit. Prince was portrayed as “Chief.”
Prince distinguished himself with the 1st SSF in Italy and France, using the skills he’d learned growing up as an Ojibway. In Italy, near Anzio, he volunteered to run a communications line 1,400 metres to an abandoned farmhouse less than 200 metres from a German artillery emplacement. Prince set up his observation post in the farmhouse and for three days reported on the activity in the German camp.
On Feb. 8, 1944, shelling severed the line. Prince disguised himself as a farmer and went out to the field with a hoe. German soldiers watched disinterestedly as the “farmer” slowly worked his way along the field, stopping once to tie his shoelaces. Finally, he stopped his work, shook his fist at the Germans and then the Allies, and returned slowly to the farmhouse — and resumed his military duties. Prince had repaired the break while pretending to tie his shoes. His courage resulted in the destruction of four German tanks that had been firing on Allied troops. He was awarded the Military Medal for “exceptional bravery in the field.”
In the summer of 1944, the 1st SSF entered Southern France. On one mission, Prince walked 70 kilometres across rugged, mountainous terrain deep behind German lines near L’Escarene, going 72 hours without food or water, to locate an enemy bivouac area. He reported back to his unit and led the brigade to the encampment, resulting in the capture of over 1,000 German soldiers. He earned the Silver Star, a U.S. decoration for gallantry in action. Prince was honourably discharged on June 15, 1945 and went home to Canada.
He established a small business and prospered briefly. Prince had a strong sense of civic duty and a fierce pride in his people. He became a spokesperson with the Manitoba Indian Association, and dedicated himself to attaining increased educational and economic opportunities for his people. “ All my life, I had wanted to do something to help my people recover their good name,” he once said. “I wanted to show they were as good as any white man.”
He worked with the association to lobby Ottawa for changes to the Indian Act. While some revisions were made, life for Canada’s natives saw little improvement. Prince began to understand that his people lacked respect in the eyes of Canadian society. Frustrated, he returned to Winnipeg to discover that the business he’d entrusted to friends had failed in his absence.
Prince re-enlisted and served with the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. During two tours of duty in the Korean War he won the Korean, Canadian Volunteer Service and United Nations Service medals. He was wounded in the knee, and was honourably discharged on Oct. 28, 1953.
Prince was just one of the estimated 12,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who served in the two World Wars and the Korean War. For Tommy Prince and other natives, war was more than the political conflict between nations. For them, war was a great equalizer. A military unit must be a team; all its members face danger together. The rank structure does not recognize race.
After the wars, Prince left behind the rank that put him in command of other men. He had few skills that would help him integrate him back into civilian life and was hindered by bad knees, a painful reminder of his wartime service.
Prince, the war hero, became lost in a society that discriminated against his race. The Princess Pats remembered him on Remembrance Day, but the glories of war did not transcend the battlefield. Prince slowly went downhill. His life deteriorated, tearing his family apart, and separating him from his wife and five children. He worked hard to beat his own demons, including alcoholism. By the end of his life, he had conquered this toughest of enemies and re- established contact with his daughters Beverly and Beryl.
Prince helped change attitudes toward First Nations people, although certainly he would have seen little evidence of it in his time. Monuments have been erected in his honour, a street named after him and scholarships established. Though they all came too late to give credit to the man during his lifetime, these actions are reflective of a change in our social fabric. They represent greater acceptance and awareness of all the people of Canada.
Tommy Prince’s legacy is not just his wartime service to his country; it is the difference he made to his people and to all of us.
Laura Neilson Bonikowsky is the associate editor of The Canadian Encyclopedia. To learn more about Tommy Prince, consult The Canadian Encyclopedia and watch the new Historica Minute at www.histori.ca.