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Oct. 3—At a table during a backyard dinner in Spring Township on an August evening, two spry centenarians sat across from each other, chatting about what they saw as the key to longevity.

Someone asked them who is older.

Angelo Bokeko claimed that honor. A native of Nesquehoning, Carbon County, he was born June 26, 1922, and fought in France during World War II with the Army.

Bokeko was born two weeks before Dorothy Trate, who worked as a punch press operator at a Pottstown factory during the war and celebrated her 100th birthday July 9.

Seated to the right of Bokeko was Hank Kudzik, 97, who served on a submarine during the pivotal Battle of Midway.

"The last I knew there were three of us left," Kudzik said of his USS Nautilus crew, which survived numerous depth charges and assisted in sinking a Japanese aircraft carrier. "I'm afraid to call because they might tell me we lost another one."

Kudzik proudly mentioned those feats and the fact that he appeared in the second Hollywood movie about the battle, the 2019 film "Midway" starring Woody Harrelson.

"They had me and my skipper talking about the movie in the beginning," he said.

Kudzik also shared the stranger-than-fiction story of the Nautilus crew's rescue of two dozen French-speaking nuns who had evaded capture by Japanese forces for nine months.

"We took them on the submarine," he said. "We were supposed to take them to Australia. And they didn't like the submarine. They said, 'You don't live on this?' I said, 'We certainly do. We live here, we sleep here and we fight here.'"

While Trate, a bona fide Rosie the Riveter who dons her old work bibs and scarf at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's annual World War II Weekend, may stand out more than the others on parade routes and such, each was treated like a star at this dinner party.

Their main host, who wasn't yet born at the dawn of this century, escorted each one individually and reverentially to the patio as a jazz trio played.

The dinner, catered compliments of Mission BBQ in Wyomissing, was unusual for several reasons.

For one thing, it's safe to say it was likely one of the largest gatherings of World War II veterans in recent years, given that most living veterans who served from 1941-45 are pushing 100 years old and rarely travel anymore.

The occasion that brought them all together was only vaguely defined by the host family, but the common link among the veteran guests is that they were all interviewed on camera by a household member, 18-year-old Tyler Boland.

Boland, a freshman at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, started interviewing former soldiers and sailors (and one Rosie the Riveter) about the role they played during World War II as his senior project at Wilson High School.

His great-grandfather served in World War II and took part in some of the bloodiest combat of the war with the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theater. Though Boland never met his great-grandfather, his understanding is that his "Pop-pop" never talked about his war experience.

Boland connected with a local nursing home where he recorded interviews with a couple of veterans. The interviews only whetted his appetite to meet and get first-person accounts from others who bravely and honorably served their country more than 75 years ago.

After graduating high school in June, Boland continued to connect with World War II vets in videotaped interviews. He has traveled to other counties and Mid-Atlantic states in his quest to interview as many veterans as possible for his project.

He plans to edit the interview footage and post each video on YouTube. He also plans to submit the material to the Library of Congress.

Boland has a Facebook page, "Keeping History Alive," that he updates with posts of photos and from his latest interviews.

'Eternal gift'

While Boland isn't the only person or organization interviewing World War II veterans while there's still that opportunity — and sometimes posting videos with biographies and black-and-white photos of the servicemen in uniform — it would be hard to find anyone devoting this much time and energy to personally interview dozens of former service members.

Boland is providing an extraordinary service for generations of students, some of whom haven't been born, said state Rep. Mark Gillen, founder of the Berks County Military History Museum in Mohnton.

"I think it's an eternal gift," Gillen said. "What an amazing insight to see that there's a need for this to be done."

Of the 16 million men and women who wore a military uniform during World War II, only about 200,000 are still alive, and many of them haven't talked about their war experience with their own children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Gillen said.

That was certainly true in Gillen's family. He never heard his father, who died in 1982, speak about the war until shortly before his death when he went on the syndicated radio show, "Larry King Live."

He learned more about his father's service record — that he was an airman on an aircraft carrier —than he ever knew growing up.

"Those of us who were the baby boomers were surrounded by veterans who saw no need to speak about it," Gillen said. "It was absolutely stunning for me to hear that."

Feeling like family

Another extraordinary aspect of Boland's endeavor is how he has formed relationships with men and women who are 80 years or more his senior.

"I joke sometimes that I think he's probably like a World War II vet reincarnated," said Shane Boland, Tyler's father, "because he hangs out with them and he truly loves being with them

"The one gentleman, Mat Gutman — he's become very, very close with. He's almost like an adopted great-grandfather to him."

Mathias F. Gutman, 97, who lives in Allentown, shares a connection to Tyler's great-grandfather Charles Schwambach, whose 1st Marine Division unit took part in the bloody invasions of Peleliu Island, Guadalcanal and the Philippines in 1944.

Gutman, a Navy crewman who rose to the rank of chief petty officer by the war's end, took part in all six Pacific island invasions leading up to the surrender by Japan. Though the two probably never met, it's likely he piloted the boat that took Schwambach to shore, where many were mowed down by Japanese gunners as they disembarked.

He met the younger Boland at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's World War II Weekend, and they hit it off.

"He was a Higgins boat driver so he drove my Pop-pop during the invasion," Tyler said. "I think it was kind of destiny, and ever since he found that out we've been super friends."

Gutman said he was astonished by the young man's interest in World War II.

"He was never in the military, and yet, I guess what spurred him on is his passion to know more," he said. "And to know more you've got to talk to people who were in the war, right up front, you know, not from a book.

"And that's how we got acquainted. He came to my home and he interviewed me, and we've been friends ever since."

Their genuine friendship is evident in the way Boland feels comfortable addressing Gutman as "Mat."

Boland's rare ability for someone of his age and generation to connect with people who came of age before the advent of television is no doubt due to his fascination with the war. But he also treasures the relationships, his mother says.

"He likes the history and strategy of the war and (learning about) everything that happened," Rebecca Boland told a few of the guests. "But getting to know you guys has been the best part for him. He loves the connections."

And he keeps finding more connections to his great-grandfather.

A few weeks before the dinner party, Boland interviewed James G. Connor of Reading a few days shy of Connor's 96th birthday.

He posted a photo of himself later that day in which his excitement is palpable: "Today I met with World War 2 Veteran James G. Connor, from Reading PA. Mr. Connor turns 96 next Monday!

"He was 17 when he enlisted into the 1st Marines Division, 2nd platoon, Easy Company (Fought with my Great Grandfather). He stormed up the beaches at Peleliu, in the Palau Islands, where he got blown off his feet, and was hit with shrapnel. He then invaded the island of Okinawa, where he was wounded 3 different times!"

At the Boland party, Connor, who still carries shrapnel fragments in his body, said he was surprised how relaxed he felt being interviewed by the young man.

Boland's father believes Tyler internalized the art of interviewing by watching his dad, who for years owned a video production and web-design company.

"When he wanted to interview in the first person he knew what it looked like and it kind of blossomed from there," Shane Boland said.

The Bolands hosted a smaller party for Gutman and a few other World War II veterans Tyler had interviewed.

"We had about six vets here," Shane Boland said, "and he (Tyler) had a great time. This one, though, was his doing. He did 99% of the planning. My wife and I just smoothed out the edges, but it was all him."

Tyler said he's interviewed around 60 World War II veterans and is still looking for more.

"There's still more in the area I haven't interviewed," he said.

He welcomes suggestions and can be reached at his email, tyler.michael.boland@gmail.com, or text or voice call at 484-294-8190.

Interest appreciated

Lou Cinfici of Flying Hills, who at 94 was the youngest guest at the party, said the veterans truly appreciate young Boland's interest in their service and bringing them together for events such as parades.

This summer, Boland used his World War II Weekend connections to requisition two vintage Army vehicles for a group of World War II veterans, including Gutman and Cinfici, to ride as part of Wyomissing's Fourth of July Parade parade.

Cinfici was 16 when he served in the Pacific Theater. Too young to enlist in the Navy, he joined the Merchant Marine instead, following several of his brothers into service during the war.

As the Allied forces closed in on Japan near the war's end, his ship was supposed to deliver supplies to Australia in preparation of a possible invasion there by Japan.

After the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered Cinfici's crew to Tokyo. While anchored in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, the teen sailor witnessed the official end of World War II with the signing of the instrument of surrender by Japanese representatives and MacArthur, supreme commander for the Allied Powers.

Those are some of the experiences Cinfici, who enlisted in the Navy after the war, shared with Boland.

"He called me one day and asked if he could interview me," Cinfici said. "He came over, took some pictures and interviewed me. Really amazing for a young boy to be so involved in World War II history. It's unbelievable."

He wishes there were some way to pay the young man back.

Their debt was already paid, Tyler said.

"My motto is kind of giving back to the ones that gave it all for us," he said.