Revisiting the Unknown Soldier: How a grassroots campaign brought a fallen comrade home

CBC News | Posted: November 11, 2024 9:30 AM | Last Updated: November 11

Image | Newfoundland Unknown Soldier

Caption: Pallbearers of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment carried the casket of Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier up the steps of the National War Memorial in downtown St. John's on July 1. (Mike Moore/CBC)

Open Image in New Tab

Monday marks the first Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in St. John's to include the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The remains of the unidentified soldier were removed from a grave at a military cemetery in France, and were repatriated in time for Memorial Day ceremonies on July 1.

Very little is known about the soldier, other than that he served with and was buried among other Newfoundland soldiers in Europe.

Earlier this year, CBC News produced two documentaries about the effort: one that looks at the repatriation of the Unknown Soldier, while the other looked behind the scenes at the years-long campaign to refurbish the memorial in St. John's to celebrate its centennial.

For Remembrance Day, we'd like to present them again.

Someone's Son

Reporter Heather Gillis, collaborating with video producers Chelsea Jacobs and Ted Dillon, followed the team of people who worked to bring the remains of the Unknown Soldier back to Newfoundland.

Media Video | Someone's Son: Repatriating Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier

Caption: It started 100 years ago, with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's padre, Thomas Nangle. He wanted an unknown soldier from Newfoundland repatriated to honour all the men killed. It didn’t happen in his lifetime, but a small but mighty team worked to fulfil his dream. In Someone's Son: Repatriating Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier, the CBC’s Heather Gillis, along with video producers Chelsea Jacobs and Ted Dillon, follows a story a century in the making — from diving deep into archives, to France to speak to the team who exhumed the remains and attend the repatriation ceremonies finally, the unknown soldier’s homecoming.

Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages.

Enduring Witness

The National War Memorial in downtown St. John's was completed in 1924, to give the then dominion of Newfoundland its own monument to those lost in the Great War. Reporter Terry Roberts teamed up with video producers Danny Arsenault and Ted Dillon to chronicle the history of the landmark, and its refurbishment a century later.

Media Video | Enduring Witness: The story of Newfoundland’s national war memorial at 100 years

Caption: The centennial of Newfoundland’s National War Memorial in downtown St. John’s will be commemorated on July 1 with the addition of a tomb of the unknown soldier. But what is the history of the 100-year-old monument, the people and money behind it, and the disputes involved? The CBC’s Terry Roberts, along with video producers Danny Arsenault and Ted Dillon, looks at the history of the famous landmark in the documentary Enduring Witness: The Story of Newfoundland’s National War Memorial.

Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.