The life and death of Alex Decoteau: Saskatchewan’s first Olympian, Canada’s first Indigenous police officer – National Post

Jul 19, 2021

He’d done much with his life. There was more to do. But Passchendaele was a killer of dreams

A sniper’s bullet stopped Alex Decoteau from running. Nothing else could.

That bullet felled one of the Great War’s most prolific Canadians, on a fall day at Passchendaele in 1917. Decouteau was dead at 29, five years after competing for Canada at the Olympic Games.

Decoteau’s body, as the story tells it, was then looted for souvenirs. A pocket watch given to him personally by King George V was taken by a German soldier. That soldier soon met his own demise, and the watch was reclaimed by Canadians, who eventually returned it to Decoteau’s family.

Read More: https://nationalpost.com/sports/olympics/the-life-and-death-of-indigenous-olympian-alex-decoteau