Rishi Sharma’s Mission to Preserve WWII Veterans’ Stories

Rishi Sharma has dedicated the past decade to a significant mission. By traveling across the United States, he has interviewed over 3,000 World War II combat veterans. At 28 years old, Rishi remains committed to this task.

“For the last 10 years, I’ve been on the mission to interview every single World War II combat veteran,” Rishi stated. “I’ve quite honestly spent every single day of the last 10 years doing that.”

One of his recent interviews was with Nils Mockler, a 100-year-old Marine veteran from Yorktown, New York. Nils served as a combat intelligence scout and participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

“What did it mean to you seeing the American Flag being raised?” Rishi asked.

“Well, the hair on my arms still stands up when I think about how beautiful it was,” Nils responded.

Rishi’s journey began 10 years ago in Southern California. He initially interviewed veterans directly in his neighborhood, then expanded his efforts with a map of future destinations.

“There are real superhero World War II vets out there,” Rishi said in 2016. “I want to meet them.” His passion doesn’t stem from family tradition; his parents immigrated to the U.S. from India, and he has no military background.

The project, known as Remember WWII, relies on donations. Rishi conducts in-depth interviews with the veterans and provides the recordings to their families.

A decade ago, around 700,000 World War II veterans were alive. Now, approximately 30,000 remain. Rishi emphasizes the broader loss when they are gone.

“Because for so long they have been the moral compass of our society,” Rishi noted. “Just the advice that they impart silently steers the ship of this country.”

This weekend, as the nation celebrates 250 years, Rishi highlights the sacrifice and moral integrity of this generation, often referred to as “the greatest.”