When Alex Decoteau lay dead on a battlefield in Belgium, an enemy sniper stole his most prized possession.
After he survived Battleford Industrial School, Alex moved to Edmonton and became Canada’s first Indigenous police officer.
He won several races and earned a spot on the Canadian Olympic Team.
He finished sixth in the 5,000 metres at the 1912 #Olympics in Stockholm.
Alex Decoteau was one of Canada's best runners.
Then he signed up.
While training for the war, he kept running. When he won a five-mile race in England, the trophy hadn’t yet arrived.
In lieu of the trophy, King George V gave Alex his own pocket watch.
A month before he died, he wrote his last letter home.
“…we are all aching and longing for our own beloved Canada. Of course there's work to be done yet and I spose I will stay there till it is finished.”
He carried his watch as he ran messages at the front. He carried it everywhere.
It was in his pocket when he stood in the mud of Passchendaele in October 1917.
It was in his pocket when a sniper’s bullet halted Alex Decoteau. He was 29 years old.
He had left everything to his sister. His widowed mother couldn't read, and he heard stories about Canada not supporting its own.
"I'm afraid they would take advantage of her... And by the stories going around some poor fellows have a hard time getting what's coming to them."
His prized watch?
Alex’s brothers found the sniper and stopped his looting for good.
They recovered the watch from the sniper's pocket and sent it home to Alex’s mother.
He survived the place Canada called school. He ran for Canada. He fought for Canada.
Cree Olympian. Our fallen brother.
Please remember Alexander Wuttunee Decoteau.
We see you, brother.
mypoppy.ca
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