The “Lowertown Nine” memorial plaque has been entrusted to Niagara County for permanent display in the county courthouse, and longtime local educator Barbara Converso hopes it will create teachable moments for viewers, especially young people.
“When we talk about war, whether it’s World War II, the Vietnam war, the Persian Gulf war… we talk about it as an event, and somehow miss the people,” she said. “I want kids to know how important this is. Those men (listed on the plaque) weren’t in video games, they were in war, and they died defending our freedom.”
The 20-by-15-inch bronze plaque listing the names of nine former DeWitt Clinton elementary students who made the “ultimate sacrifice” as soldiers and sailors during World War II was showcased at the beginning of the Niagara County Legislature’s Tuesday meeting. Family members of some of the Lowertown Nine were present, including Converso and her husband Nick, with the service photo of their uncle or cousin in hand.
The plaque’s new home is to be the courthouse rotunda, where the county’s Purple Heart Book of Honor also is displayed. Four of the nine names on the plaque will be added to the Book of Honor and the Purple Heart Monument outside the courthouse, following the discovery that they were not already included, according to legislator Rick Abbott.
The plaque commissioned by the families of the fallen nine — and paid for with the proceeds of community-based fundraisers such as dance festivals and operettas — was installed inside now-closed Dewitt Clinton school in November 1947, and remained there until a couple of months ago.
Mary Brennan-Taylor, co-curator of the Secret Weapons of World War II: Women, Books & Music commemorative exhibit, learned about the plaque while researching Lockport natives who were killed in the war, and after confirming the plaque was still in the building that now houses Lockport’s Head Start program, she set out to reclaim it for the families.
Following a quiet lobbying effort that involved local elected leaders and the offices of U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney and Nick Langworthy, the building owner — the federal Community Action Organization of WNY — agreed to surrender the plaque. It was publicly unveiled anew near the end of the three-month Secret Weapons exhibit at Kenan House Gallery, then displayed at city hall for about six weeks while the families decided where it should go permanently.
The families chose the county courthouse because that’s truly public property, according to Converso.
“In school buildings, people can’t come in and out to see it. In this public place, they can,” she said.
For Rick Cain, whose great uncle Salvatore Vizi is listed, the value of the plaque’s relocation to the courthouse is educational. “Future generations will be able to come here and learn about World War II so that it’s not forgotten,” he said.
Brennan-Taylor, who prefers to credit “a village” for the plaque’s recovery, said “it has been an honor and privilege to be able to return to the families, and the Lockport community, this beautiful and treasured piece of Lockport’s history.”
Repeating the names of the Lowertown Nine — Charles Colletti, Paul Converso, Justin D’Agostino, Edward Fabian, John Gluszek, Joseph Neden, Joseph Scarpinato, Salvatore Vizi and Maurice White — she added, “We owe these brave and heroic young Lockport men an immeasurable debt of gratitude. … May their memory be an inspiration and a blessing.”