Finding Fred Lee 1.0

He was killed for doing his job and forgotten for 100 years.

How did this soldier with a Chinese face, end up in France, a machine gunner with the Canadian Expeditionary Force? Did he have family? Where was he born?

A small town soldier denied his place in history, killed in action with no known grave and forgotten. Not uncommon for the Great War, but this soldier was of Chinese heritage.

This is the story of The Lost Soldier of the Lost Battalion of the Forgotten Battle of Hill 70vand the journey that Jack Gin calls Finding Fred Lee.

He was the first Asian Canadian soldier to volunteer and die for his country that denied him the right to vote. Yet he was real, selected for machine gun duty, and participated in two of Canada’s most epic battles, and then disappeared without a trace, without a grave marker, no obituary and no mention in his hometown newspapers.

Finding Fred Lee would uncover a trove of other soldiers who were black, Metis, indigenous, underage, neglected and forgotten Canadians who gave their lives at three of the most historic and epic battles in Canadian history.

For Jack, his journey has been moving and haunting.

Directed by Jack Gin (Canada)

Leave a Reply