Benjamin Keeper

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Few people have the necessary discipline and focus to excel in one let alone two careers, but Benjamin Keeper had both. Although of aboriginal descent, Ben Keeper was educated in a Christian Methodist School because of the strong missionary influences in the local area. In fact, Keeper the youngest of ten children was the only member of his family to attend school and he didn't waste the opportunity.

While at school, Keeper became known for his outstanding athletic talent. In particular he seemed to revel in the most physically demanding sports because of his ability to remain disciplined and focused while immersed in pain. Keeper developed a passion and love for endurance running to the extent that by 1911 he had set a Canadian record for the ten-mile run. The following year, Keeper was to excel again as he became locked in a fantastic duel for the Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000m final at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. With the race leader long gone, Keeper and two other runners battled for two medals. Despite exhausting himself, Keeper narrowly missed out on the bronze medal finishing in fourth. To this day Keeper's position remains the greatest result of any Canadian in the 10,000m at the Olympic Games.

With such athletic prowess it would seem somewhat natural that Keeper would excel in the Army as well. But athletes have not always made the best soldiers as the disciplines demand such uniquely specific talents. Nonetheless Keeper served the 107th Pioneer Battalion with his usual discipline, focus and distinction. Pioneers were soldiers responsible for constructing camps, fortifications and communications and Keeper was a dispatch rider, a notoriously insecure and dangerous yet vital role. In fact, Keeper performed this role so well he was awarded the Military Medal in 1917 for outstanding bravery; a medal that may have made up for the one he narrowly lost five years earlier at the Olympic Games.

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