Sponsored by
On trail of war victim
The untold story of a Wearside soldier who died in the First World War is to be revealed in a new documentary.
Finding Uncle Bill focuses on Private William Pye, a butcher from Southwick, who joined the East Yorkshire Regiment as a Kitchener volunteer in 1914.
Using family research, military historians Richard Hone and Tim Saunders follow the infantryman to the trenches and battlefields of the Western Front.
The film, which premiered today in London, will be available to download online.
"When we started we had no idea where our journey would lead us, if anywhere," said Richard.
"But we quickly realised from the photos that he had been an infantryman, which meant that serving from 1914 through to 1918 he must have fought in at least some of the major battles of the Great War – and so it proved."
With the help of genealogy experts, the documentary makers track Pte Pye across the battlefields of Europe, from his first attack at Loos in 1915.
He was sent home to recover from trench foot after the battle of Passchendaele in 1917.
However, at the height of the 1918 crisis on the Western Front, he was recalled to serve with the 29th Durham Light Infantry and returned to the Ypres Salient, where he was killed in action just a month before the end of the war.
"He is one of the 100,000 British and Empire soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient and have no known grave," Richard said.
Tim, from Battlefield History TV, said it was a challenge to make a popular programme about genealogy.
"However, we discover how to search the records both online and in archives and then take research that stage further – on to the battlefields of the Western Front.
"This main part of the film shows family researchers not only how they can amass details of their ancestors' service, but also to find where they actually fought."
For more information about the film, visit www.battlefieldhistory.tv
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
