Connecting Lost Stories

FINDING HEROES is a new web-series produced by NSE and sponsored by ANCESTRY using some of the original War Junk stories but telling them in a new way, connecting the past with the present. While investigating mysterious war artifacts, Professor David O’Keefe and Wayne Abbott dig deep into Ancestry’s family history records to show how they manage to find information on soldiers and then, locate present day family members to show them the special items.

Episodes

Names Under Vimy

The team travel to site of Canada’s greatest military victory, Vimy Ridge.  They get a rare opportunity to explore 100-year-old tunnels where soldiers who fought at Vimy left their mark. Can they find a present-day descendant of one of these soldiers and take them on an extraordinary journey below Vimy Ridge?

Lost in the Reichswald

While investigating the Reichswald Forest in Northern Germany, a local collector shows the team a mysterious mess tin that he dug up the year before. Using Ancestry’s records and military files they find the name of the soldier and then surprise his twin daughters 75 years after their father lost his mess tin in the Reichswald Forest.

The Scars of Battle

The team explores the mountainous terrain south of Rome in Italy.  Here they find a very personal item connected to a Canadian soldier wounded in April 1944.  When they bring his present-day family over to Italy, they discover that the scars of battle never disappear.  

The Lost Compass

Dave and Wayne travel to northeast France where the Battle of the Somme took place in 1916.  They find a unique artifact connected to a Canadian soldier who was an Army Scout in the First World War.   When they bring the soldier’s son over to the Somme, they are surprised by the artifact he brings.

The Lost Paratrooper

In September 1944 Operation Market Garden took place in Holland near the town of Arnhem when 35,000 Allied paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines. The story was made famous by the epic WW2 film A Bridge Too Far. In the vaults of a local museum, the team is shown a lost artifact from an American paratrooper who was part of the 101st Airborne and sadly, was killed during Market Garden. Using Ancestry the team tracks down a relative that ends with an emotional meeting.

More to come…

More episodes are coming soon!