SMART | remembrance 


Remembering our veretans


Continued from page 1 After the war, Prince returned home to unemploy-


ment and discrimination — despite receiving a Military Medal from England, a Silver Star with Ribbon from the US, the 1939-1945 Star, the Italy Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defense Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, and the War Medal. As an Indigenous man, he didn’t have the right to vote in federal elections and wasn’t eligible for veteran’s benefits. So he became an activist, work- ing on behalf of the Manitoba Indian Association to lobby the federal government to change the Indian Act. At the onset of the Korean War


he enlisted with the Princess Pa- tricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. As a sergeant once again, he led many “snatch patrols” or sneak attacks on enemy territory. He served two tours, and won the Korean, Canadian Volunteer Service and United Nations Service medals. Armed with a strong sense


of civic duty and fierce pride in his people, Prince served in the army’s personnel department upon returning to Winnipeg from Korea. Ever a hero, he leapt from the Alexander Docks to save a drowning man in 1955. Prince was honoured at his fu-


George Brooks George Semperins (St. Pierre) Brooks was another


memorable Deer Lodge veteran. He died at Deer Lodge Hospital in 1948 at age 105. At the time, he was Canada’s oldest soldier. He apparently served in no less than six conflicts, including the American Civil War, the Spanish- American and Cuban wars, and the First World War. In an interview with the Win-


nipeg Tribune before his death, Brooks said he was born in Cuba and later sold, along with his mother, to a Kentucky slave- owner named Mr. William How- ard, a cruel and unmerciful man from whom he later ran away. Brooks claims to have been a private orderly to General Grant, to have met Abraham Lincoln several times, and to have wit- ness the surrender of General Lee. He joined the army to be a part of the war to free slaves. Should you doubt his veracity,


Brooks was able to furnish for witnesses an Army discharge certificate from the First World War, signed by his command- ing officer, confirming that he served in the 27th Battalion in 1916—at age 73. He later told a reporter, “I


George Brooks obituary.


neral by Manitoba’s lieutenant governor and representatives from the US, Italy and France. His pallbearers were members of the Princess Patricia’s. As he was lowered into his grave, men from his reserve chanted the “Death of a War” song. Tommy Prince’s legacy lives on to this day—in the


names of roads, streets and schools, awards and schol- arships, training programs and buildings across Can- ada, and in our memory of the veterans of Deer Lodge whose sacrifices won the freedoms we enjoy today.


should have been drawing an old age pension, but of course, I never told the recruiting officer that. They allowed me to join


because I was a cook, and the Army was very short of cooks at the time.” Brooks also claims he was one of the Fisk Jubilee Sing-


ers of Nashville, sang for Queen Victoria, and worked for P.T. Barnum. So far, historians have found no reason to doubt any of his claims. By all accounts, Brooks was happy at Deer Lodge. “I


have my own radio set, and quite a lot of kind people come to see me. And the matron and staff are just grand.”


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In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, Tat mark our place; and in the sky Te larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw Te torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.


- John McCrae


In Remembrance


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November 2017


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