Canadian Forces

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Prince volunteered to fight with the Canadian Army, and served from June 3, 1940 until August 20, 1945. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and the First Special Service Force formed by combining Canadian and American troops to train at Fort Harrison German soldiers on the front line near Anzio, Italy, thought little of the peasant farmer weeding his field near their emplacement. The field had been torn up by shelling, the crops all but gone. The soldiers watched disinterestedly as the farmer slowly worked his way along the field, stopping once to tie his shoelaces. Finally, the farmer stopped his work, shook his fist at the Germans and then the Allies, and returned slowly to the farmhouse. The seemingly innocuous farmer was actually a highly-trained Canadian soldier, a marksman and an expert at tracking and making his way unseen around the enemy. His name was Thomas George (Tommy) Prince and he’d gained many of his skills growing up on the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation reserve, north of Winnipeg. For Tommy, like most young men on Canadian reserves, World War II meant the chance for a job and three square meals a day. However, Aboriginals were routinely rejected, for health reasons but also because of their race. Tommy was turned down several times, despite more than meeting the requirements for recruitment. He persisted and was finally accepted on June 3, 1940. He was assigned to the 1st Field Park Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. He accepted every challenge that came his way and excelled as a soldier. Tommy Prince is Canada’s most-decorated Aboriginal war veteran. By 1942 Tommy 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 1600-man assault team. They became the 1st Special Service Force (1st SSF), known to the enemy as the “Devil’s Brigade.” The name was adopted by Hollywood as the title of a 1968 portrayal of the elite unit. Tommy was portrayed as “Chief.” The 1st SSF soon saw action. In Italy, Tommy volunteered to run a communications line 1400 m to an abandoned farmhouse less than 200 m from a German artillery emplacement. Tommy set up his observation post in the farmhouse and for three days reported on the activity in the German camp. On February 8, 1944, shelling severed the wire. Tommy, disguised as a farmer, found and repaired the break in full view of the enemy, 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.” Tommy continued to distinguish himself. In the summer of 1944, the 1st SSF entered Southern France. Tommy walked 70 km 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 1000 German soldiers. He earned the Silver Star, an American decoration for gallantry in action, as well as six service medals. Tommy was honorably discharged on June 15, 1945 and went home to Canada. Tommy returned from fighting Nazi racism to a country that denied him the right to vote in federal elections and refused him the same benefits as other Canadian veterans. The business he’d entrusted to a friend failed in his absence. Facing unemployment and discrimination, Tommy re-enlisted and served with the 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 October 28, 1953. In June 1955, Tommy Prince made the news for his heroism in saving a man from drowning at the Alexander Docks in Winnipeg. But his personal life kept deteriorating and alcoholism overtook him resulting in his final years being spent virtually alone, living in a Salvation Army hostel. http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/s...native/prince2 Three of the 11 medals Tommy Prince earned during his military career - the Korea Medal, the United Nations Service Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal for Korea - were for service during the U.N. operations in Korea. In August 1950, one week after the government announced its decision to form the Special Force, 34-year-old Tom Prince volunteered. He joined the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), the first Canadian Army unit to arrive in the region. Prince was in action quickly. In February 1951, the Patricias joined the 27th Commonwealth Brigade on the battlefield. Soon after arriving in the war zone, the sergeant, who was second in command of a rifle platoon, led an evening "snatch patrol" of eight men into an enemy camp. The raid was a success; the group returned before dawn with two captured machine-guns. More raids followed. However, according to the authors of a biography of Prince, he was eventually assigned fewer patrols, because his commanding officer thought Prince took too many chances that might risk the lives of the soldiers under his command.87 Prince was with 2 PPCLI when, together with the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment, it was awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for distinguished service in the Kapyong valley April 24 and 25, 1951, during one of the toughest actions of the war.88 The Patricias were to hold a defensive position at Hill 677 so that a South Korean division could withdraw during an attack by Chinese and North Korean forces. Although at one point the battalion was surrounded and resupply of ammunition and emergency rations could only be accomplished by air, the Patricias held their ground. The enemy withdrew. Ten PPCLI men were killed and 23 were wounded during the two-day battle. The award was a first for a Canadian unit. Prince's time at the front was intense but brief. His knees were subject to painful swelling and premature arthritis. It was a struggle for him to endure the constant, steep climbing demanded by the Korean landscape. After a medical examination in May 1951, he was hospitalized and then assigned administrative duties. In August he returned to Canada. Prince remained on active service as an administrative sergeant at Camp Borden in Ontario. Here his knees responded to the added rest and thus, in March 1952, he volunteered for a second tour of duty in the Far East. He sailed for Korea that October with the 3rd Battalion PPCLI. In November 1952, the training of the 3rd PPCLI in Korea was interrupted by fighting on "the Hook", a key position west of the Sami-chon River that overlooked much of the rear areas of the U.N. forces. When a Chinese battalion gained a foothold on the forward positions of another U.N. unit on November 18, the 3rd PPCLI was ordered to help defend the sector. By dawn of the 19th, the U.N. unit, with assistance from the Patricias, had recaptured the post. Five Patricias were killed on the Hook and nine were wounded, one of whom was Sergeant Prince. Prince recovered from the injury, but began to have continual difficulties with his arthritic knees. Between January and April he spent several weeks in hospital. In July 1953, the Korea Armistice was signed, and, the following November, Prince returned to Canada. He remained in the army, stationed at a personnel depot in Winnipeg, until September 1954. Tommy Prince died at Winnipeg's Deer Lodge Hospital in November 1977, at the age of 62. At his funeral, a delegation of the Princess Patricias served as pallbearers and draped a Canadian flag over his coffin for the memorial service. It was an impressive tribute