Looking for info about the "Kamloops (Tk'emlúps?) Eight"

October 15, 2018 9:53 AM

My family vacationed in the Canadian Rockies back in May, and we took part of the trip via train. On the way into Kamloops, British Columbia one of the guides talked about First Nations people's involvement in one of the World Wars. She told a story where soldiers from Kamloops would sneak into enemy camps at night to count soldiers and get intel. I think she referred to them as the "Kamloops Eight" (Tk'emlúps eight?) Assuming I'm not completely mis-remembering the details, does anyone know where I can read more about this story?

The guide said that the tribe from the story had a rite of passage that involved leaving a hand-print on the side of a deer. In order to do it, they had to learn to be quite stealthy, which came in handy during the war. This seems like the sort of thing that would appear in books or movies, so I'm hoping someone can point me to somewhere I can learn more.

posted by braveterry to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

From a bit of online searching, I've only found Tommy Prince of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, near Scanterbury, Manitoba, who was was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II and the Korean War.

In the Korean War, he 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.

Otherwise, nothing on a Kamloops or Tk'emlúps Eight, but you could contact Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc and ask if they have any more information.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:01 AM on October 15, 2018

The history of George McLean may be a place to start? He was one of many to serve, but there's a good bit of history about him. Every male member of the Head of the Lake band who was of age (between 20 and 35) enlisted for WWI. McLean was already in 40s but enlisted as well, performing a dramatic solo raid during the Battle of Vimy Ridge. There's an extensive history of WWI and WWII Aboriginal military involvement (and its complexities) available here, though among the anecdotes offered I don't think there's anything that quite matches up with the story you're describing. It's still interesting reading, though.
posted by halation at 11:12 AM on October 15, 2018

I can't find a lot of information about the contents of the this book, but you might see if you can get a copy of Forgotten Soldiers by Fred Gaffen through Amazon or a library.

These are apparently the contents:
A retrospect -- The First World War -- Between the wars -- The Second World War -- A comparison with native peoples in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Illustrated history of Canada's native people in both World Wars. Four sections: the First World War, between the wars, the Second World War, and a comparison with native peoples in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.

The Canadian government has an extensive online publication about First Nations people in the Canadian military. Here is the chapter on the World Wars, which also has a few books mentioned in addition to the one I listed above.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:49 AM on October 15, 2018

Er... this all sounds a little too stereotypical to be true.

If you're interested in learning more about the cultural traditions of peoples from this area, the book Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws might be a good starting point.

I don't know anything about the provenance or reliability of this website, but it has two tables listing indigenous veterans that you could copy to a spreadsheet and filter by nation to look for patterns and names to spur research into wartime stories. Maybe the guy who runs it can help you out?
posted by bethnull at 9:34 PM on October 15, 2018