Honouring Indigenous Heroes: Tommy Prince Commemorative Project

Thomas George Prince was born on October 25th, 1915, and was a member of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, located 80 km north of Winnipeg. When war broke out in 1939, Tommy was eager to enlist, and even though he easily met the recruitment requirements for the army, he was turned down several times before finally being accepted on June 3rd, 1940. Tommy Prince ended his distinguished military career as one of Canada’s most-decorated First Nations veterans, earning a total of 12 medals. In peacetime he was also a man of remarkable integrity, with a fierce pride in his people. He was quoted as saying "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."