It’s no secret that, 90-some years on, I remain fascinated with WWI. Its carnage was so complete, yet so unnecessary, that all of this time on we seem still unable to face it head on. And I’m a Yank, but I see cracks in British resolve where guys my age are asking, “So what really happened to Great-Uncle Tommy?”
The Trench Detectives is a program that asked that in a general way, though by Series Two it seems to have found its true purpose: Finding the Fallen. I’ve only seen the second episode, Passchendaele, but they found a 2nd Lt’s wristwatch with his name scratched into the band and a letter from his dad to the War Office asking its whereabouts. They brought it to his great nephew, as he had been an only child. I was raised military and there’s not much more touching than that.
Um, to make it forum-correct, I like that show.