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Snipers, Scouts and Quiet Heroes
Not surprisingly, many native soldiers were asked to use their hunting, shooting
and tracking skills during the war.
The most highly decorated of these snipers was a young man from Ontario’s
Parry Island Band with the unusual nickname of “Peggy.” Cpl. Francis
Pegahmagabow was an expert marksman and became one of the Canadian Expeditionary
Force's best snipers. He received the Military Medal and two bars for bravery
for his exploits in Belgium and France. Pegahmagabow was in the 1st Battalion
and saw action as a scout and sniper at Ypres and the Somme. It was during the
1917 battle in the mud at Passchendaele that Pegahmagabow’s bravery and
skill guiding the troops on the battlefield earned him the Military Medal.
Another famous sharpshooter was an Indian named Henry Louis Norwest. A Metis
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Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Norwest enlisted under the name Henry Louis only
to be discharged after three months for poor behaviour. He re-enlisted a few
months later using a different name and quickly became one of the army’s
most feared snipers, credited with 115 kills. Like Pegahmagabow, Norwest was
twice decorated, receiving the Military Medal and bar for his courage and skill
at Vimy Ridge, particularly in the battle for the Pimple, where his expert shooting
helped save many Allied lives. Unfortunately, he himself was the victim of a
sniper’s bullet on August 18, 1918, only months before the war’s
end.
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