Rishi Sharma - The Man on a Mission to Preserve the Legacy of WWII Veterans
Every year, on November 11th, Veteran's Day is held to remember and honor those who have protected our nation through their service in the military. But regardless of how much time we dedicate to honoring our veterans, it does not change the fact that hundreds of Veterans are dying each day. And with every veteran that passes away, another piece of history is lost - forever.
That is why, ever since 2016, Rishi Sharma has been on a mission to stop that from happening.
It started in Sharma's sophomore year of high school when he heard about Lyle Bouck, a veteran who
had fended off German forces in the Battle of the Bulge - the last major German offensive of World War II. Intrigued by what he heard, Sharma got in contact with Bouck and interviewed him.
After his first interview with Bouck, Sharma began looking for other World War II veterans to interview. Before long, this had become a daily occurrence for Sharma, who started biking to retirement homes to interview veterans, even cutting class to do so. He founded Heroes of the Second World War, a nonprofit dedicated to his mission, and now lives off of money he has raised through a GoFundMe. He has interviewed nearly 850 veterans across 45 states and has even conducted interviews in Canada.
Most of the veterans are more than happy to share their stories and tell their experiences with at times graphic detail. "That was the most godawful thing we've ever had to witness," recalled Don Pullen, who served in the Air Force during the war.
Once the interviews are done, Sharma burns them onto a disk and gives them to the families of the veterans. If the veterans are willing, he also releases the interviews to the public so that the horrific stories of the war are never forgotten and the disastrous mistakes never repeated.
To learn more about or support Sharma's mission, you can visit his website at http://www.heroesofthesecondworldwar.org/
Source:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-one-young-man-made-it-his-mission-to-interview-wwii-veterans/
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/09/us/rishi-sharma-wwii-veterans-interviews-trnd/index.html
That is why, ever since 2016, Rishi Sharma has been on a mission to stop that from happening.
It started in Sharma's sophomore year of high school when he heard about Lyle Bouck, a veteran who
had fended off German forces in the Battle of the Bulge - the last major German offensive of World War II. Intrigued by what he heard, Sharma got in contact with Bouck and interviewed him.
Most of the veterans are more than happy to share their stories and tell their experiences with at times graphic detail. "That was the most godawful thing we've ever had to witness," recalled Don Pullen, who served in the Air Force during the war.
Once the interviews are done, Sharma burns them onto a disk and gives them to the families of the veterans. If the veterans are willing, he also releases the interviews to the public so that the horrific stories of the war are never forgotten and the disastrous mistakes never repeated.
To learn more about or support Sharma's mission, you can visit his website at http://www.heroesofthesecondworldwar.org/
Source:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-one-young-man-made-it-his-mission-to-interview-wwii-veterans/
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/09/us/rishi-sharma-wwii-veterans-interviews-trnd/index.html
This was a really inspiring post! We read/learn about a lot of negative things that happen in the world, so it is nice to see some uplifting things! I was wondering why you chose to write about Rishi and the work he is doing with veterans?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment! I had heard about Rishi's story a few months ago and since Veteran's day had just passed I wanted to talk about honoring veterans, so Rishi's story felt like a perfect fit
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