Tommy Prince
Canadian soldier
Died when: 62 years 41 days (745 months)Star Sign: Libra
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Thomas George Prince MM SSM (October 25, 1915 – November 25, 1977) was an Indigenous Canadian war hero and the most decorated soldier in the First Special Service Force or Devil's Brigade during World War II.
He was Canada's most decorated First Nations soldier, serving in World War II and the Korean War.Prince's military deeds as a scout and as a forward combatant were unique and of major strategic importance.
Tommy Prince was descended from First Nations chiefs who had negotiated treaty rights with representatives of The Crown, and Prince himself would also represent First Nations concerns in Ottawa as Chairman of the Manitoba Indian Association (currently Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs).
He advocated for the abolition of the governing Indian Act in Canada and proposed respect for the traditional Crown treaties as the basis of First Nations rights.
Prince's position, although deemed radical at the time, has been vindicated in subsequent decades by Supreme Court of Canada rulings in support of the Crown treaties and is now the basis of government policy.
