Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Husband of Edith May SCHNAARS, Havelock Street, Narrogin, WA

Snowy, was the son of George SCHNAARS AND Elsie Ninyette.  Prior to the war Snowy worked as a Labourer, and he enlisted in the Australian Army at Claremont.  He received a gunshot wound to the chest in 1942 during service in the Middle East.  Snowy was a Gunner during World War II in the 2/7th Field Regiment.  As a Gunner, he was responsible for driving an ammuntion truck during one of the Battles of El Alamein, Egypt.  At night it was his habit to park the truck and sleep on the tray.  However, one particular day during the battle, work got around that it was Snowy's birthday. Major John Day who was also of the 2/7th Field Regiment took it upon himself to give Snowy half a bottle of whiskey to celebrate.  Snowy then decided he'd share the half bottle of whiskey with his mates in the trenches instead of retiring to this truck.

As it happens they were bombed that very night and Snowy's ammunition truck was destroyed, so if he had slept on the truck he would have lost his life.  Snowy always told the nine children that he had after World War II that if it hadn't been for half a bottle of whiskey and Major Day, none of them would have come to be.  Snowy also had four children before World War II.  One of Snowy's children is John Schnaars OAM of Veterans Retreats WA.  Major John Day was the father of John Day, the former Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1993  to 2017.