On October 31, 2003, construction workers in the small French village of Avion uncovered the bodies of two men – victims of the First World War. The discovery launched an international investigation to determine their identities. 

Led by Dr. Carney Matheson of the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University, the Canadian Armed Forces team of genealogists, historians, and geneticists work through every painstaking detail in an effort to identify the two men. 

Forensic archaeologists draw out any identifying evidence they can from the remains. Historians scour military records looking for small clues that might help put a name to these two men. Genealogists hunt high and low to locate next of kin. And the Paleo-DNA Lab team work long hours to draw out the crucial ‘smoking gun’ – that piece of DNA evidence that will incontrovertibly identify our two suspects and bring an end to the questions that have lingered for ninety years for two families. 

In the end, what these experts uncover is an amazing story of heroism in the face of fire and the tragedy of men lost without record.