

World War II veteran Arthur Koweek recalls his experiences during war time



Arthur Koweek



After a great deal of training all over the country, Koweek was stationed in Spinazzola, Italy. His rank was Second Lieutenant, and he was the bombardier for the deputy lead plane. In civilian language, he was the man in charge of dropping the bombs over military targets from the plane leading all of the other planes. Sometimes he led a formation of  up to 1,200 planes.

He felt a lot of pressure because on bomb runs the bombardier actually takes control of the airplane for about 30 seconds during the bombing. This means that not only was the bombardier responsible for hitting the specific target, but he also needed to fly the plane safely.

Koweek remembers his worst experience in the service as one that could have been deadly for all eleven of the men in his plane. One of the other crew members discovered a piece of shale shot from enemy guns lodged into part of the plane. If left there for much longer, the plane would have most likely come out of the sky. “War’s hell, war’s not fun…somebody’s trying to kill you one way or another,” he said.

With risky situations such as these, Koweek acknowledges that he would not want to have been in his parents position. While Koweek was in Italy, his brothers were overseas fighting in England and New Guinea.

This veteran feels that in general veterans are not given the proper respect in today’s society. “Not saying you’ve got to kiss him, but you want to be thankful that he’s there doing it.”

Although Koweek did the country a great service he remains astoundingly humble about his experiences. He is my grandfather; I’ve know him my entire life, and I have never known him to glorify his time overseas. He’s part of a fantastic generation of people who understood that they had to fight for what was right.

Categories: Uncategorized
Molly Koweek

2 Responses

  1. JD says:

    Nice job, Molly!

  2. Sean says:

    Koweek …. Nice article. Your last statement sums up most of our service people. Thank your grandfather for his servicefrom Me.