It's 1936, and a group of Canadian veterans of the Great War have traveled to France for the inauguration of the Vimy Ridge Memorial. Part of this delegation includes amateur film-maker Wilfred Prissick, who records the proceedings with his 16mm camera and several rolls of colour film. At his side is his wife Ruby, who notes her thoughts in her diary, and who is overcome by the site of so many on "that blood soaked ground." So begins Rumours of War, the first episode of Canada's War in Colour.
In this first episode, Marion Walwyn, a travel agent from Bluevale, Ontario, films the rise of Nazism in Germany, while on a tour there in the late 1930s. Her camera captures an eerie scene: several SS officers marching in full uniform. Once war is declared, Walwyn, who volunteered in the First World War, returns to London, England, to work at Canada House, where she tends to Canadian servicemen, and camera in hand, captures the devastation of the Blitz.
Percy Jacobson, a businessman from Montreal, decides to keep a diary throughout the war years, recording his thoughts and impressions. His diary becomes increasingly poignant, as his own son, Joe, and his nephew, Moe, both enlist.
Through colour film footage and letters and diaries, we see Canadians enlisting, training at bases across the country, and leaving for war. Previously unseen footage of the 48th Highlanders shows these men, known as the "glamour boys" as they pass the time on board ship, playing impromptu games on deck, seemingly unaware of what they'll face once overseas.
Colour film footage culled from European archives also shows German troops in action; poignant film shows the devastation of the Battle of Dunkerque.
star of david
One haunting scene in Rumours of War is of German soldiers in a town square in Poland, taking stock of Jewish boys, each of whom is wearing a white armband with a blue Star of David.
Back home in Canada, families open their doors to youngsters from England, known as th
