Searching for Vimy’s Lost Soldiers

Searching for Vimy’s Lost Soldiers

Convinced he has located the lost cemetery Norm puts together a team of Bomb Disposal Men, geophysicists, and archaeologists, to find CA40. Many Canadians know that the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 is Canada’s most famous and greatest victory – yet many are not aware that thousands of those men killed in the battle are still missing. For the families of those missing men, their stories are still unfinished. Most Canadian recognize the iconic Vimy Memorial built atop the ridge to honour the battle. Less well known is that its white stone facades are inscribed with the names of over 11,000 men killed in France during the War who have no know grave – men who are missing.

Covers Norm Christie’s quest to find and recover forty-four Canadian burials in the lost Vimy cemetery, CA40. Families of the Lost Men walk in the footsteps of their fallen family members. Their connection to the Dead, and their grief, even after a century, is still palpable.

But what if some of these men could be found?
Military Historian Norm Christie believes he knows the whereabouts of forty-four of these missing men. They lie in an old German mine crater deep under what is now a farmer’s potato field, which is due to be built over by an industrial estate. The mass grave is known as “CA40”. Searching for Vimy’s Lost Soldiers is a documentary special, which follows Norm Christie and his team of geophysicists, bomb disposal officers, and forensic investigators on a mission to locate and recover the men of CA40.

The bodies of the 44 men were reported to have been re-buried in a local military cemetery at the end of the war, but Christie has discovered that this never happened. Christie reveals how he discovered that CA40 is missing, deciphering clues from 100 years ago. He convinces local town councils and farmers to allow an investigation. The search won’t be easy. CA40 lies beneath one of the world’s deadliest battlefields, full of unexploded high explosive and poison gas shells. Original trench maps reveal there are many craters. Which is CA40?

The families of the 44 soldiers, along with Christie, are now on a mission to find the missing men and give them the proper commemoration they deserve – before they are lost forever.

You may also like

Cry of the Ancestors
Small Inuit communities battle for survival against the harsh climate and the risk of famine.
Igor Gouzenko and the start of the Cold War in Canada
There have been few times in the History of the World when Canada has been Centre Stage. There were a few during the Great War, but the last time was certainly D-Day ... or was it?
Lost Battlefields
A supplemental documentary to the For King & Empire TV Series.
Manotick War Memorial
War Memorials are an integral part of our ability to connect to our history. They are central to our act of Remembrance.
Secret Liberators
The Episode deals with four Canadians, who as part of the Special Operations Executive, ran underground operations against the Nazi occupiers, and provided a spirit of resistance to the isolated French people.
Striking Back
Battlefields, cemeteries and memorials of the legacy and sacrifice of Canadians in the Dieppe Raid and Bomber Command.
The Collectors
The Collectors features Alex Caldwell, a young Canadian soldier who died of wounds during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, recounted through the remarkable commemorative collection of Gary Roncetti.
The Path Ahead
The Mohawks of Akwesasne in the Saint Lawrence Valley in Ontario and the Nlaka’pamux in the Stein Valley of British Columbia are featured in this 1991 exploration of the Native people’s response to pollution of their environment. With Graham Greene.
The Power of the Land
Using powerful testimonials and rare archival footage, the film conveys how colliding perspectives of the land and development must be reconciled in the years to come to ensure indigenous and global environmental survival.
The Riot at Christie Pits
The Riot at Christie Pits exposes the roots of racism focusing on Canada's worst race riot.
The Trench
The Elgin’s 31 Combat Engineer Regiment build a trench based on construction plans originally used in World War 1, Belgium and France, 1914 - 1918
Toronto the Good
Eyewitnesses to the riot recall life in Toronto during the 1920s and 1930s.