On this day in Canadian Airborne history... June 10, 1944

Private G.A. Comeau, Private G.H. Davidson, CSM G.W. Embrue, Private J.K. Hardiman, Private L.A. Neufeld and Private I.G. Wilson were KIA

                                   National Indigenous History Month 

                                                                                
_{Sergeant Thomas George Prince}

_{Tommy Prince was born in a canvas tent in Petersfield, Manitoba, in October 1915, one of 11 children born to Harry and Elizabeth Prince of the Brokenhead Band of Ojibwa. He was a descendant of Peguis, the Salteaux Chief. When he was five, his family moved to the Brokenhead Indian Reserve (now known as Brokenhead Ojibway Reserve) in Scanterbury.}

_{Prince enlisted in the Canadian Army on 3 June 1940 and was assigned to the 1st Field Park Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. By 1942 Prince was a sergeant with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Later posted to the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, he was among a select group of Canadian soldiers sent to train with an American unit to form a specialized assault team that became the 1st Special Service Force. After the end of the World War II, he returned to civilian life.}

_{Facing unemployment and discrimination, he re-enlisted in the military and served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). 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. Tommy Prince was Canada’s most-decorated Indigenous war veteran, having been awarded a total of 12 medals in the Second World War and the Korean War.  He died on November 25, 1977 in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the age of 62.  If you have read this post, then you have taken the time to remember Thomas George Prince, war hero, Indigenous advocate and an honour to Canada.} 

_{Special Thanks to John Fioravanti for information and photographs.}