Ancestors in the Attic

History Television Canada continues the season of Ancestors in the Attic on January 21 with two new half-hour episodes starting at 6pm EST, repeated at 9pm.

The episodes are described in a Global Genealogy posting at http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazed/gazed192.htm

JOURNEY TO ORTONA
On Christmas Eve 1943, 28-year-old Melville Madden was in the thick of one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the Canadian military - the Battle of Ortona. Like the rest of his regiment, Madden was looking forward to an historic Christmas dinner organized by his unit, the Seaforth Highlanders. But he was also looking forward to something even more important - a Christmas reunion with his older brother, Cecil, who was also fighting in Italy. Unfortunately, Melville never arrived at their reunion. Sometime on Christmas Eve he was killed in action. To this day, his family has no idea how he died.

Until now. Julian Sacher, a high school student from Lacombe, Alberta - Melville Madden's hometown - is about to embark on a journey to Ortona. With the help of Ancestors in the Attic, he will try to discover the truth behind Madden's death, and, if he can, finally answer the questions Melville's family have asked for more than 65 years.

SIDOR'S SAGA
In 1928, when he was 24, Sidor Cembrowski fled Eastern Europe to build a better life for himself in Canada. But he never forgot his family back home, and treasured the letters he received from them. But after World War Two, and the fall of the Iron Curtain on his homeland, the letters stopped. Although he tried, Sidor couldn't contact his family and died never knowing whether they survived the war or Stalin's Reign of Terror.

Now, Sidor's oldest daughter, Millie, and his great-granddaughter Annamari, of Charlie Lake, B.C., want to fulfill Sidor's dying wish and find his lost family. With Ancestors in the Attic, they are about to journey back to Ukraine, to try and reconnect with their ancestral roots and make their family whole again.

As usual, schedules are subject to change.