Tommy Prince
| Thomas George Prince | |
|---|---|
Sergeant Tommy Prince (R) with his brother, Private Morris Prince, receives his Military Medal at Buckingham Palace
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| Nickname(s) | Prince of the Brigade |
| Born |
October 15, 1915 Scanterbury, Manitoba |
| Died | November 25, 1977 (aged 62) Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Service/branch | Canadian Army |
| Years of service | 1940–1945 1950–1954 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Battles/wars |
World War II Korean War |
| Awards |
Military Medal Silver Star (United States) |
Thomas George "Tommy" Prince MM (October 25, 1915 – November 25, 1977) was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II and the Korean War.
Born in Manitoba, Canada, he was one of eleven children of Henry and Arabella Prince of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation near Scanterbury, Manitoba. He was the great-great grandson of the Indigenous Chief, Peguis, who had led his nation from Sault Ste. Marie to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg in the late 1790s, keeping their French name, the Saulteaux.
Growing up, Prince became a superb marksman with exceptional tracking skills learned from countless days spent hunting in the wilderness around his Indigenous reserve. He attended Elkhorn Residential School, completing grade eight. After leaving school, he was employed at a variety of manual labour positions but primarily as a tree feller. He joined the army cadets while a teenager.
At the start of World War II, Prince volunteered to fight with the Canadian Army and although Prince easily met the requirements for recruitment, he was turned down several times before he was finally accepted on June 3, 1940. He was originally a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers, trained as a sapper. He volunteered for duty with a parachute unit designated the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion. This designation was used to disguise the true reason for the recruitment of parachute volunteers in the UK at that time: the United States and Canada had begun the formation of a special force to conduct sabotage in Norway. Men were recruited in Canada and the overseas army for this unit, dubbed the First Special Service Force. The Canadians involved with this training continued to be on strength of their prior units. Although later dubbed the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion for administrative purposes, the unit did not actually exist. Prince then reported to the U.K.'s parachute school at RAF Ringway, near Manchester. He was promoted to lance corporal in February 1941.
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