Nearly every seat in the small, intimate Taylor Theater was taken Monday morning as Casimir “Casey” Bukowski visited the Kenan Center to share stories of his service and sacrifice during World War II.
Bukowski, 100, was animated yet gentle, self-deprecating and full of good humor as he talked about his time as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany.
The Buffalo native had enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1942, when he was 18 — or close enough, wink-wink — and was assigned to be a waist gunner on the B-17 bomber “Friday the 13th.” Stationed in England, he flew 16 missions, until the B-17 was shot down over Germany early in 1944.
Hit by shrapnel inside the aircraft, Bukowski said he tried and failed to grasp the handle on an exit hatch, because of the slippery winter gloves he was wearing, and because he was in and out of consciousness he doesn’t remember putting on his parachute — but he must have, because he awakened on the ground near the Autobahn. After landing, he was met by three farmers who eventually turned him over to a German military unit.
In training, Bukowski said, the Army Air Corps drilled into recruits the notion that “it was our duty to evade and escape (capture)” but in his dazed condition he simply could not. Before they relinquished custody of him, those farmers menaced Bukowski for a while, “mauling” the injured gunner as he was propped on a stool in a farmhouse — he believes they were searching him for personal “memorabilia” — until a woman intervened, loudly and repeatedly, and the men finally “gave up.”
After treatment at a local hospital and then removal of his right eye at a German military hospital, Bukowski was sent to the first of several prison camps where he spent 14 months keeping his head down to survive. A self-described “little guy” at 5-feet-5-inches tall, he aimed to stay out of trouble so as “to keep from bleeding,” he joked. Having attended a Polish parochial school in Buffalo, he knew the language and, as a prisoner, he said he “made out pretty well” by befriending prison guards of Polish descent. Through them, he got extra food, cigarettes and other items that he could trade to treat himself or his buddies.
Overall, Bukowski said, the guards treated the POWs pretty well — except the “diehard… Nazi” guards who just had to lord their power over others — and noted the guards were older, often disabled, men who couldn’t serve on the front lines.
By 1945 Russian forces were advancing on Germany from the east, causing the evacuation of German POW camps deeper into the country. Bukowski was one of hundreds of POWs forced to march as the Germans tried to prevent them from being liberated by Russia. Bukowski remembers his captors claiming it was for their own good, as the Russians would just leave them behind. Considering Russia was on the side of the Allies, Bukowski was skeptical, but he marched anyway, for 82 days, until liberation came courtesy of U.S. Gen. George Patton’s forces near Leipzig in April 1945.
After liberation, Bukowski said, he spent several months in a U.S. military hospital, resting and recovering, and then he went home and got on with his life. At some point, he learned the German pilot who downed Friday the 13th was killed on a later mission. “And I’m still here, bothering people,” he noted with a laugh.
Bukowski’s story unfolded as replies to a series of questions posed by Nancy Babis, the vice president of Buffalo Niagara Honor Flight. His appearance on the Taylor Theater stage was the first in a series of special events organized in conjunction with the Lockport Public Arts Council’s immersive exhibit “Secret Weapons of World War II: Women, Books & Music” at Kenan House Gallery.
Bukowski was escorted by an honor guard from the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, and presented with proclamations/certificates of appreciation from the U.S. House of Representatives, the New York State Assembly, the Niagara County Legislature, the sheriff’s office and the Lockport Common Council. He also was treated to “mail call” by a group of students from DeSales Catholic School who, one by one, presented thank-you notes and shook hands with him.
Bukowski, whose story has been well reported in Western New York and beyond, ended the open conversation with Babis by thanking his audience, which was well-populated with local veterans of other wars.
“To me this is an honor, to appear and talk with you folks,” he said. “Thank all of you.”
LCTV recorded the conversation between Bukowski and Babis and will air it in its entirety on Channel 1301 at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday this week, according to executive director Rich Zapp. Also as of Thursday, the recording will be available for streaming on demand at lctv.net.
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“Secret Weapons of World War II” continues daily at Kenan House Gallery, 433 Locust St., through the end of March. Self-guided tours are available between noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; for a tour led by exhibit co-curator Mary Brennan-Taylor, visit on a Saturday or Sunday between 2 and 4 p.m.