Go back in time to a French cave hundreds of WWI soldiers called home

A blast from the past. In September, a group of men in Canadian military uniforms from more than a century ago walked across a French field and disappeared into the earth, as if swallowed up. They were headed into Maison Blanche souterrain, an underground cave where hundreds of Canadian troops stayed safe in the lead-up to the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April of 1917. A new film, Return to Maison Blanche, is bringing their experiences to life. It highlights the work volunteer-led Canadime has been doing to document the carving soldiers left behind on soft chalk walls. They brought a group of volunteers from Canadian Great War Society archives to portray what life was like in these caves. When you get down to it, it was just soldiers being soldiers, doing what soldiers do, you know, in their downtime prior, enjoying being underground, playing cards. Talking, eating, things that were day-to-day life of them. Marcus Nicoletti, a teacher in Scarborough, donned a uniform and headed into the depths of Maison Blanche. What he saw took his breath away. I gasped. It was just, I was taken completely aback, knowing that these had survived, and especially chalk, too. One of our producers, actually, when we were walking down, gave us a very casual reminder that there were live grenades in the area. And I'm looking around, you know. With what limited range of visibility that I have. And I'm thinking. One wrong step. Something might happen. I pray to God that it doesn't, because I was also the lantern guy. Canadime has been working to scan and digitize the carvings left behind so a record lasts. But these carvings, and the souterrain itself, won't last forever. Zenon Androsyshyn says already they can see some drawings are fading. I doubt very much if that is going to be around in the next hundred years or so. So having the documentary like this about the work that we're doing, I think it's just a legacy, so to speak, I guess, for future generations. All three hope the documentary will help pass on knowledge of the First World War, as time brings us further from those events. Elizabeth Witten, CBC News, St. John's.