Tommy Prince

Tommy Prince (born October 25, 1915, Petersfield, Manitoba, Canada—died November 25, 1977, Winnipeg, Manitoba) was a war hero and Indigenous rights advocate of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation who was one of Canada’s most-decorated Indigenous war veterans, having been awarded a total of 11 medals for his service in World War II and the Korean War. Although homeless when he died, he was honoured at his funeral by his First Nation, the province of Manitoba, Canada, and the governments of France, Italy, and the United States.

Early life

Prince was born in a canvas tent in Petersfield, Manitoba, in October 1915—one of 11 children of Harry and Elizabeth Prince of the Brokenhead band of Ojibwa. He was a descendant of Peguis, the great Saulteaux chief. When he was five, his family moved to the Brokenhead reserve (now known as Brokenhead Ojibway Nation) in Scanterbury. He was a survivor of the residential school system.

Prince learned to be a superb marksman and an excellent tracker on the reserve. His father, a hunter and a trapper, taught him. Prince applied to join the Canadian military several times but was rejected. Indigenous people faced widespread discrimination, and that likely played a role in his rejection. He was finally accepted in the early years of World War II.

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“Devil’s Brigade”

Prince enlisted in the Canadian Army on June 3, 1940, and was assigned to the 1st Field Park Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. By 1942 he was serving as a sergeant with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Subsequently posted to the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, he was among a select group of Canadian soldiers sent to train with American soldiers to form a specialized U.S.-Canadian assault team. This team became the 1st Special Service Force (FSSF), known to the enemy as the “Devil’s Brigade.” (Though thoroughly integrated with their American counterparts, officially, Prince and his fellow Canadian soldiers continued to serve in the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion.) The FSSF’s nickname was adopted by Hollywood as the title of The Devil’s Brigade, a 1968 film that portrayed the elite unit. Prince was portrayed as “Chief.”

Prince distinguished himself with the FSSF in Italy and France, using the skills he had learned growing up on the reserve. He displayed his covert abilities in a celebrated action near the front line east of Anzio, Italy. In February 1944 he volunteered to run a telephone line out to an abandoned farmhouse that stood, by some estimates, less than 200 metres (about 220 yards) from a German position. He set up an observation post in the farmhouse and for three days used a field telephone to report on German movements.

After the line was severed during shelling, he disguised himself as a peasant farmer, and, acting as though he were working the land around the farmhouse, he looked for the break in the line. Upon finding it, he pretended to tie his shoes, but in fact he was repairing the line. German soldiers watched, oblivious to his true identity and actions. (At one point, he even shook his fist at the Germans and then at the Allies, pretending to be disgusted with both.) His forward observation work resulted in the destruction of four German tanks that had been firing on Allied troops.

In France in the summer of 1944 Prince endured a grueling trek across rugged terrain to locate an enemy camp. He traveled without food or water for 72 hours. After he returned to the Allied position, he led his unit to the German encampment, which resulted in the capture of more than a thousand German soldiers.

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Honoured by George VI

After major combat operations ended in southern France, Prince was summoned to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI decorated him with the Military Medal and, on behalf of the American president, the Silver Star. He would also receive the 1939–1945 Star, the Italy Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp, and the War Medal.

Prince was one of 59 Canadians who were awarded the Silver Star during World War II, only three of whom also possessed the Military Medal. He was honourably discharged on June 15, 1945, and returned to Canada.

Back in Canada

At home, Prince faced racism from the Canadian government. As an Indigenous man, he was not allowed to vote in federal elections—in spite of his wartime service—and was refused the same benefits as other Canadian veterans.

He started a business, which briefly prospered. He left it in the hands of friends so he could serve as a spokesman for the Manitoba Indian Association, lobbying the federal government to change the Indian Act. Following his campaigning, he returned home to discover that the business he had entrusted to friends had failed in his absence.

Facing unemployment and discrimination, he reenlisted in the military and served with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).

Service in Korea

Prince resumed his former rank and began training new recruits for the Korean War. He was then part of the first Canadian unit to land in Korea, where he served with a PPCLI rifle platoon. In Korea Prince led many “snatch patrols,” in which a small group of soldiers would travel into enemy territory and launch sneak attacks before retreating. One overnight raid led to the capture of two enemy machine guns.

Suffering from bad knees, Prince returned to Canada for treatment in 1951. But he went back to Korea for a second tour in 1952. After an incident that resulted in the determination that he was experiencing “battle exhaustion” (what would likely be considered post-traumatic stress disorder today), Prince was hospitalized. He was still recovering when the armistice came into force in 1953, ending the fighting.

He returned to Canada and remained in the army, serving at Winnipeg’s personnel depot, until September 1954, when he was honourably discharged.

For his two tours of duty in Korea, Prince was awarded the Canadian Korea Medal and the United Nations Service Medal (Korea). Posthumously, he also became entitled to the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal for Korea, created in 1991.

Hard times

Prince had a strong sense of civic duty and a fierce pride in his people. He dedicated himself to attaining increased educational and economic opportunities for Indigenous communities. “All my life I had wanted to do something to help my people recover their good name. I wanted to show they were as good as any white man,” he said.

He was married and had five children. In 1955 he saw a man drowning at the Alexander Docks in Winnipeg and leaped in to save him.

Prince fell on hard times and spent his last years living in a Salvation Army shelter. He died at the Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg on November 25, 1977. He was 62. Prince was buried in Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg. A delegation of the PPCLI served as his pallbearers. Men from his First Nation chanted the “Death of a Warrior” song as he was lowered into the grave. More than 500 people attended his funeral, including Manitoba’s lieutenant governor and consuls from France, Italy, and the United States.

Legacy and significance

Prince was one of the most-decorated Indigenous war veterans in Canada. Aside from his significant military contributions, he is remembered as a fighter for equality and Indigenous rights. Prince’s nephew Jim Bear told CBC News in 2020 that he remembered his uncle as “a visionary” who was in favour of abolishing the Indian Act—something, Bear pointed out, “we’re still trying to change.”

The original version of this entry was published by The Canadian Encyclopedia.