Image Credit: CFJC Today / Zoom

By Jill Sperling

Victory in Europe

Kamloops residents remember the sacrifices of war on 75th anniversary of VE Day

May 8, 2020 | 4:51 PM

KAMLOOPS — It has been 75 years since victory was declared in Europe following the Second World War.

It was a day of celebration for those who had suffered through fear and famine.

Kamloops resident, 92-year-old Beppe Crawford lived in Amsterdam during the conflict.

She was only 12 years old when she learned of the war in Europe.

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“I was out on my bicycle,” she said, “12 years old, down by Central Station and all of the sudden I see the German trucks all coming, the war had started, and that’s an image I see all the time.”

Crawford didn’t know what it meant at the time, but would soon understand life as she knew it had changed.

“If one person would say something against the Germans they would haul men out and shoot them,” she said.

Crawford lost some of her siblings during this time, and then came the famine, which took her father’s life.

“When the war started and he would say, ‘We have a little bit of food, give it to Beppe… because she still has to grow from it.’ I never knew that I was taking food out of my dad’s mouth, and it still today bothers me that he died because I ate his portion,” Crawford said.

On May 8, 1945, the Allied Forces formally accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany.

“By now I’m 17, see,” Crawford said. “And I wore my wooden shoes, and I’m going to town dancing with my girlfriends.”

It was during that night out that Crawford met her first husband.

They would later move to Kamloops, where she now resides at Kamloops Seniors Village.

It was a similar meeting for the parents of Clarence Schneider.

“The local people, in appreciation, threw a dance party, if you want, and invited all the soldiers and during the course of this at the town hall, my mom and dad met,” he said.

Henry Schneider joined the war effort as a young man, serving in Scotland, Italy, and finally Holland.

Clarence would later return to Holland with his parents to take part in the 50th anniversary of VE Day.

“Certainly, my father, I’m pretty proud of him but I’m also very proud of the service of my father, my uncles and few million guys went over there and straightened things out. For a lot of us, that’s why we’re here.”

Due to COVID-19 there will be no formal gathering in Kamloops to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, but for Beppe Crawford it’s important that the stories of war continue to be passed down.

“We must never forget, because we will repeat it.”