It’s a race against time, a race that a young man has run relentlessly for seven years. He continually seeks out, thanks, and conducts video interviews, oral histories, with World War II combat veterans, the superheroes among us who are slipping away at an alarming rate.
His name is Rishi Sharma and he is a California native who has received acclaim for his dedicated work with the combat veterans of WWII, those in the allied countries who literally fought for democracy. When he meets others who supported the cause of freedom in those dark days, he interviews them also, whenever his schedule permits. Each story contributes to our collective memory of these citizens who defended democracy. Visit Remembering WWII, where millions are educated about the true reality of war.
I first “saw” Rishi on CBS Sunday Morning seven years ago, a long-haired teenager who loved and respected WWII vets. He started out as a Junior in high school, riding his bike to a local nursing home to hear the stories of these veterans and thank them for preserving our freedom. He expanded his outreach exponentially to other venues when he got his driver’s license and utilized the telephone to reach every WWII vet he could.
His passion for WWII veterans surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. He explained that he has no military background. He is the son of immigrants from India and is of the first generation of his family born in the USA. Note: the number of generations in a family within a country has no relationship to the level of patriotism!
The project grew and now Rishi leads the small non-profit group, Remembering WWII. He has interviewed nearly 2,000 veterans, traveling in the US, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. He is engaging, cheerful, funny, and interested in everything and everyone around him. He has never accepted a salary and travels with extreme frugal resolve, such as eating only one meal daily, determined to continue the mission and make the best possible use of all donations. Each combat veteran receives a free DVD of their interviews and Remembering WWII shares their stories via YouTube and with partner schools and universities who incorporate them into their WWII curriculum.
He arrived here on Saturday, July 1st, after meeting a vet in Bellingham and I was lucky to be able to tag along on a couple of local interviews. Dave Gaston also joined us. Dave has an amazing 1945 Willys MB jeep full of photos, letters, other written history, and memorabilia. He seeks to meet and thank WWII veterans and invites them to autograph his jeep.
Greeting Rishi to the community was Karen Schoessel, a board member of the North Thurston Kiwanis International Club in Lacey, WA. She and her husband, Roger hosted Rishi in their home.
Rishi interviewed Harvey Drahos, a 100-year-old WWII veteran, on July 2nd. He read about him online when the Kiwanis celebrated his birthday and told a bit of his history. Harvey fought valiantly in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa and almost died, suffering brain damage from a major concussion, shrapnel wounds to his right wrist, and PTSD. These are injuries for which he deserves the purple heart. Instead, due to bureaucratic mix-ups, clerical errors, and a fire in the personnel records facility, it took 68 years before he even obtained VA medical benefits. And still, at age 100, no purple heart… yet.
Karen had long known Harvey, a 50+ year Kiwanis member. When a guest speaker did not show up at their meeting, Harvey was asked for a recounting of his war experience. The audience was stunned to hear of his outstanding bravery in harrowing combat, and the failure of the military and Veterans Administration to honor him and provide needed services.
Karen Schoessel is also a buddy of Harvey Drahos, assisting him and bringing meals to the house, along with other friends and volunteers. Plus, she has worked for a year to secure the Purple Heart for him– no results… yet. More intervention is needed. Please help if you can! In addition to Harvey, other interviews during Rishi’s local stay included Betty Dybbro, a WWII female pilot; Doris Bier, a Rosie-The-Riveter who built axles for US Army jeeps; and Dick Nelms, a B-17 pilot:
Betty White, (now Dybbro) earned a pilot’s license and gained extensive flight experience before applying for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organization. (Men could apply as pilots with no training or experience, but women were required to hold a pilot’s license and log at least 500 hours of flight time before application.) WASPs tested aircraft, ferried aircraft, and trained other pilots. They worked stateside only, to free male pilots for combat, and held civilian status with no benefits, not even transportation home after the end of their service. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter passed Public Law 95-202, to grant WASPS military veteran status. In 2009, the Congressional Gold Medal was bestowed upon the WASP program pilots.
Betty’s daughter Julie assisted during the interview. WWII jeep historian Dave Gaston; Caroline Shipley Peters (whose aunt, Janet Downer, also served as a WASP); and this writer observed.
After serving in WWII, Betty trained pilots privately for many years. Betty Dybbro of Olympia is the oldest living WASP pilot in Washington State. She lives in an Adult Family Home, with support from her daughter Julie who resides nearby.
At 16, Doris applied for a mechanic job. building axles at Boeing in Seattle. She was unknowingly part of a defense industry experiment to test how women performed in this traditionally male field. Young Doris met and exceeded the challenge. While the men, who were all about the age of her father’s age, produced an average of five axles per day, she produced four each morning and four each afternoon!
In recognition, a general presented her with the coveted “E pin” for efficiency. Initially, her male counterparts were unsure about Doris, but she won over most of them, who presented her with a little celluloid doll, which she has kept all these years and treasures. Doris later quit the factory job to finish high school, but never forgot her experience. Doris lives in Centralia with son Clayton and his wife, Carol. On July 4, 2023, she rode in the Centralia Independence Day parade in a WWII vintage U.S. Army jeep.
On July 4th, Rishi interviewed WWII veteran Richard “Dick” Nelms in King County. Dick served as a B-17 bomber copilot and pilot with the 710th Bombardment Squadron of the 447th Bombardment Group. At age 100, Dick volunteers weekly at the Museum of Flight, one of the largest air and space collections in the country. Visit any Saturday and you can talk with the man as you view Boeing’s perfectly restored B-17, the Flying Fortress. The B-17 aircraft is legendary for its ability to take punishment and return with its crew. After his wife passed away in 2014, Dick took his son’s advice to volunteer at The Museum of Flight, serving as one of the museum’s storytellers of history, generously sharing his World War II experiences.
After the interview with Dick Nelms, Rishi stayed one last night in Lacey. Then, on July 5th, Roger and Karen Schoessel drove Rishi to Des Moines in fond farewell. There, he interviewed another vet who was “only” 100 years old! (Karen reports that the veteran was so spry that he walked faster than she did – and she’s a runner!). From there, Rishi left us, moving on to Vancouver Island to interview yet another veteran. And so, onward he goes.
The testimonies that Rishi records will educate current and future generations about the reality of war and how the WWII veteran generation who literally saved the world. Rishi states, “The men and women who fought, were willing to die so that we might live in a free world. I have dedicated my entire adult existence to interviewing these HEROES so that their experiences will forever inspire and educate future generations to live their lives in a way that is worthy of the WWII veteran's sacrifices.”
Rishi’s videotaped interviews have been skillfully edited and are freely available on the Remembering WWII YouTube station. Each minute of video adds to a treasure-trove of history that might otherwise be lost. Are you or do you know a WWII veteran? Refer a veteran at www.rememberww2.org or contact Rishi at 202-315-8743 (cell). Visit Rishi’s GoFundMe page and help him in his mission: https://www.gofundme.com/f/Rememberww2
Shirley Stirling, of Lacey, writes about good things people in Thurston County are doing. If you’d like to nominate someone to be profiled, contact her at shirley@theJOLTnews.com or comment below.
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ccjs55
What incredible work Mr Sharma is doing! Thank you for writing about him……. just excellent!
Saturday, July 8, 2023 Report this