Canada's WWII Italian campaign remembered in new documentary

A B.C. filmmaker is hoping his documentary retracing the steps of Canadian troops who marched across Sicily will rekindle the nation's interest in the often overlooked Italian campaign.

About 25,000 Canadians were part of the Second World War invasion, dubbed Operation Husky, including Rod Hoffmeister's father, a Lieutenant Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders out of Vancouver.

A Bond of Strangers: The Operation Husky Story follows Hoffmeister and nine others as they made a 300 kilometre trek over 20 days in 2013.

"It was far less demanding than it had been for the troops," Hoffmeister told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff about the journey.

"We carried a water bottle and wore clean shorts and clean socks and light shoes. The Canadians were carrying 50 to 100 pounds of gear ... and they were limited in the amount of water they had access to to drink during the day. So I just can't image how difficult it must have been in those temperatures."

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Hoffmeister says that most of the time, Canadians troops would have been trucked to battlefields during World War II. But this was not the case in Sicily, where they were forced to walk the island's rugged terrain.

Lost history

Filmmaker Max Fraser says he wanted to make the film after visiting a Canadian war cemetery in Europe several years ago.

"The experience is overwhelming," he said of that cemetery visit.

"Our history is lying buried in the ground over there. And I wish every Canadian could have that visceral experience. So as a filmmaker, when I heard about Op Husky 2013, I signed on right away."

"Not every Canadian can make the trip, but I hope my film gives them some sense of the experience."

Hoffmeister and others visited several battle sites, including Leonforte, where 31 Seaforth Highlanders were among those killed.

They planted a white picket as close as possible to where each man was killed, with a Canadian and Italian flag on each one.

Fraser says the Italian Campaign is almost lost history in this day and age, overshadowed in popular culture and popular imagination by victories like D-Day.

"So we hope to reclaim that lost history," Fraser said. "I'm hoping the film can carry that even farther and more Canadians can get to know this important part of our history."

The film premieres Sunday, Nov. 8 at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at 2 p.m.

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