One-hundred-year-old World War II veteran Casey Bukowski will speak at 10 a.m. next Monday at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theater as part of the Secret Weapons of World War II: Women, Books and Music exhibit.
Bukowski is a much sought after speaker both locally and internationally, according to the Lockport Public Arts Council.
Technical Sergeant Bukowski enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was trained as a waist gunner and engineer on the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. In February 1944, while on his 16th combat sortie, his plane was shot down by a German fighter aircraft. Bukowski lost an eye from shrapnel and sustained other wounds but was able to successfully bail out from his burning plane. He is only one of four survivors of his 10-member crew. Bukowski was captured by the Germans and held as a POW for the final 14 months of the war. He endured an 82-day forced march during one of the coldest winters in German history and dropped to less than 100 pounds. Bukowski was liberated by General Patton’s 3rd Army in April 1945.
Following Bukowski’s talk, tours of the Secret Weapons exhibit will be conducted in Kenan House Gallery. Admission is free; donations are accepted in support of the nonprofit Kenan Center.
The exhibit, curated by Mary Brennan-Taylor and Ellen Martin, opened this past Saturday with a well-attended afternoon reception. The exhibit, which commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, is focused on the the various, often unrecognized roles that women played in the Allied powers’ victory over the Axis powers, as well as the vital roles of certain media — pocket-sized paperback books known as Armed Services Editions and V Discs, records pressed exclusively for the U.S. military — in boosting soldiers’ morale and advancing democratic ideals overseas. The exhibit consists mainly of memorabilia from Brennan-Taylor’s personal collection and is enhanced with war service-related items loaned by local families. “Secret Weapons” is laid out around two floors of Kenan House.
Special programs like Bukowski’s talk are planned in conjunction with the exhibit, which is ongoing through March 31.
Later this month, Lock City Sound, the men’s glee club, will perform songs from the war years at Taylor Theater, at 7 p.m. Jan. 23.
In February: Lockport Public Library’s book discussion group will take on “Sisters of Night and Fog;” the author, historical fiction writer Erika Robuck, will do an author talk at Taylor Theater; and Buffalo Jazz will perform songs from the war years. In March, Ann Marie Linnabery, assistant director of the Niagara County Historical Society, will give a presentation on the homefront during the war years and the Lockport library will host a Glenn Miller orchestra tribute concert. Look for dates and times in the Union-Sun & Journal as these events draw nearer.
Secret Weapons of World War II is underwritten by the Grigg Lewis Foundation and the Niagara County Legislature.