TVO - The Great War Tour (2014)

Canada, as part of the British Empire, found itself at war on 4 August 1914. At the start of the war, there was a surge of patriotism and a desire to fight for King and Country. Many men enlisted out of a sense of adventure, but within a few months machine guns, artillery, and rapid-firing rifles left hundreds of thousands killed on the Western Front. Yet Canadians continued to enlist by the tens of thousands, paying a high price for their service, with the total number of dead and wounded numbering 234,741, and with several thousand more dying of their wounds in the war's immediate aftermath.
Military historian Norm Christie hosts a documentary series, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Great War. In this unique series, Norm Christie takes audiences on a pilgrimage to significant Great War sites – some famous, others almost totally unknown. Norm examines the old battlefields, visits the cemeteries and memorials that hold the secrets to the legacy and sacrifices of the Canadians in the Great War. He discovers and tells the stories of Canadian men and women whose skills and courage turned Canada into a force on the world stage.

Episode 1: Master of War
In this first episode Norm Christie retraces the path of Canada's greatest Soldier, Arthur Currie, and examines how this General, the most successful General of The Great War, won his brilliant victories, and was later ignored and forgotten.
As Norm begins his journey through the historic battlefields of France and Belgium, Christie focuses on the career of General Sir Arthur Currie, a soldier who rose through the ranks from humble gunner in 1897 to lead the Canadian Corps to several victories during the conflict which began in 1914. In Europe and the Empire, he was regarded highly, maligned by enemies and yet his exploits failed to have the same impact at home.

Episode 2: The Missing
Few realize that 20,000 of the 60,000 Canadians killed in the Great War are still Missing. Some lie in unnamed graves others vanished on battlefields in France and Belgium. In this Episode Norm shows how we can resolve some of the mysteries of The Missing. It explains the many reasons that so many soldiers simply vanished from the battlefields.
There is particular reference to a 90 year old mystery, the missing cemetery that contains 44 soldiers of the Canadian Scottish (including William Milne VC), killed April 9th, 1917 on the Vimy battlefield, CA40.

Episode 3: Sacred Places
Norm Christie takes us to the Western Front battlefields - where 'the real war is in the cemeteries' – to discover how these faraway, exquisitely designed and little visited burial grounds, with their thousands of Canadian dead, are truly our 'sacred places'.
One of the legacies of The Great War are the 100s of War Cemeteries that mark the old battlefields. As no remains could be repatriated these cemeteries are time capsules that allow us to understand the grief and sacrifice of that period. Norm explains how these incredible cemeteries came about and what each grave and each cemetery tells us about the First World War.

Episode 4: The Vimy Pilgrimage
Norm Christie reveals the extraordinary story of the largest peacetime armada in Canadian history – the spectacular 1936 Vimy Pilgrimage to Europe - to honor the 60,000 dead of the Great War - and to unveil Canada's magnificent war memorial at Vimy Ridge. The episode chronicles the post-war period, the Veteran's Movement, and the significance of the Vimy Pilgrimage. It was the bitter-sweet swansong of the Great war Generation.
Canadians regard the Battle of Vimy Ridge as an iconic event in our nation's history. The story of Vimy has been taught to succeeding generations in English Canada, becoming over time as one of our country's founding myths. In 1922, Hill 145, the highest point atop Vimy Ridge, was chosen as the site of Canada's largest national memorial monument overseas.