How Canadian Students Commemorated VE Day 80 in the Netherlands

For 14-year-old Megan Schultz of Strathmore, Alberta, this journey was about witnessing history come to life. “I hope to see the difference between history and now,” she said before the tour. “[I want to] get a feel of how it could have been in the footsteps of George Freeman,” a respected local veteran from her community. Megan’s reflections on freedom—“you’re able to be who you are, and who you want to be”—echoed throughout the group. 
 
On May 4, Dutch Remembrance Day, students participated in a powerful silent march from the centre of Groesbeek to the Canadian War Cemetery. For half an hour, hundreds of participants walked in complete silence, with roads closed and flags lowered. At the cemetery, local dignitaries, including the mayor of Groesbeek, led a commemorative service. Students from EF stood beside Dutch youth and community members to honour the thousands of Canadians buried there. 
 
Some EF students had the honour of laying wreaths and reading poems aloud during the ceremony, including 15-year-old Aspen Strong from Whitby, Ontario. “My brother just joined the Canadian Armed Forces, so this topic has a more important meaning for my family now,” Aspen shared. “To me, freedom means being safe and having the ability to be who you are without persecution.” 

13-year-old Patrick Bastine, also from Strathmore, brought in a deeply personal perspective. “My great-grandfather, Helmut, was a Jewish German who was imprisoned during the Holocaust and was liberated by Canadian soldiers. He then immigrated to Canada after the war.” For Patrick, learning about the Holocaust and visiting war memorials was significant. “[Freedom means] the right a person has to control their own thoughts, actions, and voice without persecution.” 
 
Throughout the tour, students also visited the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek, where they learned about the local impact of the war and the stories of Dutch citizens and Canadian liberators. Many students had researched the stories of individual soldiers buried at Groesbeek. At the cemetery, they paid tribute by sharing photos, leaving notes, or offering a few words at the gravesites. 

For Emily Duran, 16, the tour was also a chance to reflect on how the lessons of the past are still urgently relevant today. “I believe conversations about oppression and the dangers of allowing bad people to gain too much power are always relevant, especially so right now,” she said, citing her fascination with the use of propaganda during the war. “Freedom means being able to live authentically as yourself without fear, shame, or oppression.” 

On May 5, Liberation Day, students joined tens of thousands of Dutch locals in the town of Wageningen, the site where German forces officially surrendered in 1945. The day began with a Liberation Parade featuring over 50 military troupes from around the world, alongside Dutch and Canadian veterans. 
 
EF students had front-row seats, but 30 lucky travellers served as guards of honour along the parade route, standing side by side with Dutch students inside the barrier. Later that afternoon, a select group of students had the rare chance to sit down with Canadian, Dutch, and British veterans for lunch. 
 
13-year-old Lane Thompson from Alberta was among the students struck by the importance of the visit. “Although I have no family who fought in World War II, many Canadians fought bravely, and others lost their lives,” he said. “Freedom is the right to wake up every morning and feel safe and protected.” 
 
During the lunch, students chatted with veterans about everything from their experiences during the war to what it meant to serve as a woman in uniform. There were emotional stories, moments of laughter, and mutual curiosity. Veterans asked students about their lives in Canada. Students, in turn, asked what it was like to cross into the Netherlands in 1945—and what freedom has meant ever since.