'Opportunity to live forever': American filmmaker has interviewed over 1,500 Second World War veterans

A young American filmmaker, who is on a mission to interview every last living Second World War veteran, is making his way through Ontario to memorialize the stories from Canadian vets.

Rishi Sharma, 24, has spent the past five years documenting the lives of living Second World War veterans in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada for his non-profit organization Heroes of the Second World War.

"By recording these veterans on camera, you're giving them the opportunity to live forever," he explained to CTV's Your Morning on Friday.

After two years of border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharma is back in Ontario with 45 interviews lined up with Canadian veterans, knowing he has little time to spare.

The average age of a Second World War vet is now 96 years old, and the number of survivors is slowly diminishing with the passing of time.

"I've saved up the last of my funding to make this trip to Ontario from California because I knew about 45 World War II veterans, Canadians that needed their stories to be preserved," Sharma said. "I've been living out of my car just to make this happen, but it's been worth it because of the 45 veterans I've interviewed so far, 42 have never been interviewed."

So far, Sharma says he has interviewed more than 1,500 Second World War veterans he calls his "heroes." And he's seeking more.

He's asking veterans and their families to reach out online via heroesofthesecondworldwar.org if they want to be interviewed and "get their stories preserved" while he is in Ontario.

Sharma gives free copies of every interview to the veteran he interviews, and shares them with academic institutions to use for teaching students. He added that he does "a lot" of research ahead of each interview so he can "kind of talk shop with the veterans."

"If you know their regimental history, it's easier for them just to tell their stories without having to explain the difference between a mortar or a machine gunner," he said.

While Sharma is the same age many veterans were when they travelled overseas to join the war effort, he said the most important aspect of the project is that he's not related to any of the vets, meaning there's no emotional attachment.

"They can tell things to me that they wouldn't tell their kids -- not because they don't love their kids – but because they want to protect them from even having to think about some of the horrors that they witnessed or had to participate in," he said.

Since he was a child, Sharma says he has "always" been interested in the Second Word War.

"I used to play toy soldier and just read books basically about the war," he said.

But the inspiration for Heroes of the Second World War came when he was in high school and decided to visit a local retirement home.

"I just wanted to thank some of the veterans for their service and the director was so excited to see a younger person there. He personally introduced me to 25 veterans of World War II," Sharma said.

Sharma said the veterans have been "so open with their stories," many of which are telling them for the first time, he says.

Watch the full video with CTV’s Your Morning at the top of this article for more from Sharma on the project and one story of a Chicago veteran that sticks out to him.