Tommy Prince 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 . Early life . Born in Manitoba , Canada , he was one of eleven children of Henry and Arabella Prince of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation at the reservation in Scanterbury , Manitoba . He was the great - great grandson of the Indian 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 Indian 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 . World War II . At the outbreak 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 1st 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 . In September 1942 , Prince returned to Canada and joined the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion ( 1CPB ) , and was promoted to sergeant . Prince volunteered for the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion and proceeded to Fort Benning , Georgia where they were forming . The Canadians were well below strength due to injuries in training and washouts . The Canadians then agreed to bolster the 1st Special Service Force ( known as the " Devil ' s Brigade " ) by allowing men to volunteer . Prince , and the other men of this unit were originally chosen for their rugged outdoor backgrounds and received rigorous training , often under live fire . All members of this elite squad received intense instruction in stealth tactics , hand - to - hand combat , the use of explosives for demolition , amphibious warfare , rock climbing and mountain fighting , and as ski troops . Prince became a " Reconnaissance Sergeant " or in the Force table of organization a " Scout " , responsible for moving into forward positions and reporting on the movements of the enemy . The SSF moved to Italy in November 1943 . They would take part in the clearing of the Bernhard or Winter Line preventing the Allied push towards Rome . They attacked and captured Monte la Difensa , Hill 720 , Monte Majo , and Monte Vischiataro in December and January . They were then moved to Anzio . On February 8 , 1944 , near Littoria , Prince was sent forward to report the location of several German assembly points , including artillery positions . From an abandoned farmhouse about from the enemy assembly area , he could report the location of the enemy ' s emplacements using of telephone wire . An artillery duel followed as the Allies attempted to knock out the guns reported by Prince , and one of these rounds cut the telephone wire . Prince walked out dressed as a farmer weeding the crops ; locating the damaged wires , he rejoined them while pretending to tie his shoelaces . He made a show of shaking his fist at the nearby Germans , then again toward the Allied lines . Returning to his lookout spot , he continued his reports , and over the next 24 hours four German batteries were knocked out of action . In all he spent three days behind enemy lines . For this action , Prince was awarded the Military Medal , his citation reading ( in part ) " Sergeant Prince ' s courage and utter disregard for personal safety were an inspiration to his fellows and a marked credit to his unit . " After being the vanguard of the US Forces liberating Rome on 4 June 1944 , the SSF was moved to southern France as part of Operation Dragoon . First they would assault the Hyères Islands before going ashore at Sylvabelle on the French Riviera . There the force was ordered , as part of the 1st Airborne Task Force , to push eastward towards the Franco - Italian border . On September 1 , Prince and a private were sent forward through the German lines to scout their positions near L ' Escarène and came across an encampment area of an enemy reserve battalion . On the way back to report , Prince and the private came upon a battle between some Germans and a squad of French partisans . They started sniping the Germans , who eventually withdrew . When Prince made contact with the French leader , he asked Prince where his company was located , when Prince pointed to the private and said " Here , " the French commander exclaimed that he thought there were fifty of them . The French commander recommended Prince for the Croix de Guerre , but the courier was killed en route and the message never reached the French Commander - in - Chief , Charles de Gaulle . Prince continued on to his unit . He then led the unit back to the encampment and joined in the battle , which resulted in the capture of the entire battalion , about 1000 men . From start to end , Prince had been without food , water or sleep for 72 hours and had walked over 70 km across rugged , mountainous terrain . Afterward , Prince was recommended for the American Silver Star , his citation reading : After it was determined that both US and Canadian personnel would be better suited if they were dispersed to units in their own forces , the 1st Special Service Force was disbanded in December 1944 . After returning to the UK , Prince was summoned to Buckingham Palace on February 12 , 1945 where King George VI presented him with his Military Medal . Prince would later receive his Silver Star from US General Koening ( on behalf of the American President on April 24 , 1945 ; he was one of 59 Canadians to receive this award during the war , and one of only three to receive the Military Medal . In all , Tommy Prince was decorated nine times , the most of any aboriginal soldier in the war . The war in Europe ended while Prince was in England . After the war . Prince was honourably discharged on June 15 , 1945 and returned to his home on the Brokenhead Reserve , working in a pulpwood camp . In 1946 , a woman attacked him at a dance and cut his cheek with a beer bottle , requiring 64 stitches . After this incident , he left the reserve and moved to Winnipeg . Using funding from the Department of Veteran ' s Affairs , Prince began a small but relatively prosperous cleaning service . He married Verna Sinclair , with whom he had five children . In 1946 he was elected chairman of the Manitoba Indian Association . Entrusting his business to friends , Prince devoted his time to working with government to improve the conditions for Native peoples . He worked with the association to lobby Ottawa for changes to the Indian Act . While some revisions were made , little actual improvement followed . Frustrated with the red tape of Ottawa , he returned to Winnipeg to discover that his cleaning business had folded in his absence because the friends running it had crashed the truck and sold the parts as scrap metal . Prince worked in lumber camps and a concrete factory to make ends meet . Korea . In August 1950 , Prince re - enlisted in the Canadian Army to fight with the United Nations troops in the Korean War . As he later commented , " As soon as I put on my uniform I felt a better man . " Re - instated with his previous rank of sergeant , Prince was now a member of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia ' s Canadian Light Infantry ( 2 PPCLI ) , the first Canadian regiment to arrive in the war zone . In February 1951 , the Patricias joined the 27th Commonwealth Brigade on the battlefield . Prince was second in command of his rifle platoon , and shortly after arrival in Korea he led an eight - man evening " snatch patrol " into an enemy encampment . The successful patrol returned with two captured machine guns , and Prince went on to lead several more raids . However , his CO eventually avoided assigning him patrols because of the risks he took with the lives of his soldiers . Prince was present with the 2 PPCLI when it became the first Canadian unit awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for distinguished service in the Battle of Kapyong on April 24 and 25 , 1951 . The battalion had maintained a defense post on Hill 677 despite heavy fire from Chinese and North Korean forces . Prince ' s wartime duty was taking a toll on his body , and his knees were subject to painful swelling and premature arthritis . He was hospitalized after a medical examination in May 1951 , and was later put on administrative duties and returned to Canada , where he served as an administrative sergeant at Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario . Here his knees improved , so 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 . Though the battalion was officially still training in November 1952 , when Chinese forces attacked a key location on the Sami - chon River known as " the Hook " the 3rd PPCLI was called to defend the rear of the UN forces . The battalion had five members killed , but was able to recapture the post with a UN unit by November 19 . Prince was among the nine Patricias wounded ; though he recovered from his injuries , he was hospitalized for several weeks in early 1953 for treatment on his knees . The armistice was signed during this period . Prince received the Korea Medal , the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal . Following the , he remained in the army , working as an instructor of new recruits in Winnipeg , Manitoba , until his honourable discharge on October 28 , 1953 . He continued to work at a Winnipeg personnel depot in Winnipeg , until September 1954 . Civilian life again . Adjusting to civilian life had not been easy for Prince after World War II , and with painfully arthritic knees as a result of the long , harsh conditions during his military service , his capabilities were limited . Coupled with the discrimination seen against Native people at the time , his life became increasingly difficult , ultimately ending in his estrangement from his family and the placement of his children in foster homes . 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 . In order to support himself , he sold off his medals . Prince died at the Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg in 1977 and was interred in the Brookside Cemetery . Prince ' s medals changed hands several times before coming up for auction in London , Ontario . His nephew , Jim Bear , organized a pledge drive and purchased the medals , entrusting them to the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg . Since his passing , a number of honours have been bestowed in his name . Some of them are : On February 10 , 2010 , it was announced that Canadian actor Adam Beach will portray the Canadian war hero in an upcoming movie about his life . According to Bay Film Studios , the movie will be a " true account of Canada ' s most highly decorated First Nations soldier . " Beach , 37 , said he is honoured to portray Prince , calling him a positive role model for all First Nations .