Episode 1: Barnardo Boy
An excavation yields evidence of WW1 mortar bombs. Its position reveals it is a ‘trench mortar pit’, key to the Allied taking of “Hill 70”, a strategic position in Northern France in the summer of 1917. The Trench Detectives begin a search for the tight-knit band of brothers who fought there, revealing the name of a Canadian soldier who lead the group into battle.
As the Trench Detectives close in on how he came to be there, they uncover the moving, Dickensian story of a “Barnardo Boy”. The soldier was the eldest of three English orphans rescued from the crushing slums of a Northern steel town in Britain and shipped to Canada where the children were sent their separate ways. None were told where the others were but all were bound by a strong desire to reunite.
Buy now at - Barnardo Boy – Yap Shop
January 12th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I identified with this episode as my father was a Barnardo boy arriving in Canada in 1913 then enlisting in the second World War to return to England. He had discovered that his mother still lived from a brother left behind. He got to see his mother and he met up with his brother in Belguim. They had not seen each other for 30 years but had kept in touch all that time.
September 12th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
As a Canadian I found this episode terrible moving and sad. The story of family separated, then reunited, then torn apart forever by war brings home the realities. Well done and congratulations for putting a human face on the tragedy.