Reality show connects P.E.I. man to his grandfather's WWI past

A reality TV show hasprovided Islander Sandy Stewart the opportunity of a lifetime: to reconnect with a piece of his grandfather's wartime past he didn't even know existed.

The Canadian-made show War Junk, starring history professor David O'Keefe and filmmaker Wayne Abbott, flew Stewart to the ruin of a church this past June near Vimy, France where his grandfather Ben Keeping had fought during WWI, leaving behind a very personal mark.

"The families don't know what they're going to see until we take them there," explained Abbott. Every episode of the show reconnects one or two families with wartime artifacts their relatives left behind on battlefields, including dog tags.

"So it's also very rewarding and emotional for us as well because there is that surprise," said Abbott. "We capture that first moment when they see the artifact."

In this case, the artifact was hisgrandfather's 1917 signatureetched into the stone walls of the church at Ablain St. Nazaire. The church wasbombed to ruins in 1915 andisnow a French national historic site.

"There was no doubt it was my grandfather: it was B. C. Keeping, 2nd Canadian Seige, P.E.I."

"It was kind of a surreal experience, because I stood at the same spot where he stood 98 years ago," said Stewart. "My grandfather passed away six years before I was born so I never really knew him. But at that moment I did feel a special connection."

They really are just withering away,nobody'sdoing anything about it. Wayne Abbott, Filmmaker

"Sandy wasn't the only one tearing up. Myself, Dave and the crew it was just a very powerful moment," said Abbott. "I think to have Sandy standing in the exact spot that Ben did nearly 100 years ago, is a very,very powerful thing, and now the family has something to always go back to."

Canadian legacy 'withering away'

The filmmaker points out there are hundreds of names of Canadian soldiers who etched their names into walls all around Vimy.

• Pride at Vimy Ridge

"And that's one of the stories I found just so attractive nobody's really told the story. And they really are just withering away, nobody's doing anything about it either," said Abbott.

"It's like graffiti on the walls today, or carving your name into a picnic table. I think they had a lot of time. But I think it was also that Band of Brothers feeling that you're doing something as a group," said Abbott. "It's their way of leaving their legacy behind."

He hopes the tv show might prompt efforts to preserve the signatures.

How the connection was made

"We did find the Keeping family throughsomebody who was doing I guess a family tree... that led to Sandy. Our research there's never any kind of protocol it's just putting out as many feelers as possible and trying to find somebody associated with that soldier."

As it turned out, Stewart was the only one of the Keeping relatives able to make the trek to France forfilming.

And it provided him an opportunity to visit not just the church, but his great-uncle Kimball Keeping's grave, and other wartime graveyards.

"It's profoundly sad, especially when you look at the ages.16,17, 18 some of them. They were so young."

The revelation of the signature in France and the tv show has prompted renewed interest in the Keeping family's genealogy and war history.

"He brought back quite a bit of stuff, gas masks and all kinds of badges and memorabilia from the war," said Stewart. "We still have his notebook for his officer training."

The episode on Vimy Ridge also takes viewers through some wartime tunnels deep below the battlefield. The show also visits Juno Beach, Holland, and Italy this season on the History Channel Nov. 10 and 11 at 9pm.

Mainstreetairs from 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on CBC Radio One.