The Glenn Beck Program - Ep 10 ｜ Rishi Sharma ｜ The Glenn Beck Podcast

00:00:00.000 The Blaze Radio Network, On Demand.

00:00:09.020 December 7th, 1941.

00:00:13.160 It was a day of infamy for our country unlike any other.

00:00:17.960 16 million Americans would answer the call.

00:00:23.100 Many years later, they would be known as the greatest generation.

00:00:27.760 I don't know what you were doing when you were 21, but I wouldn't consider myself a part of any good generation, let alone greatest generation.

00:00:39.700 The average age of World War II combat troop on D-Day was 19 to 26 years old.

00:00:47.840 Today, the average age for those brave men and women is 92.

00:00:51.840 500 veterans from our greatest generation die every day.

00:00:59.380 And today, there are only about half a million World War II veterans still alive.

00:01:04.820 That's 500,000 stories that soon will be gone for good.

00:01:09.440 This was the thought that was rolling around and bouncing off Rishi Sharma's head when he was just a sophomore in high school.

00:01:19.920 He began riding his bike to retirement homes.

00:01:24.080 He started talking to veterans.

00:01:26.040 He started documenting every single unique story that he could one by one.

00:01:30.320 But the scope of this mission was just too big for a high schooler's limited means.

00:01:37.640 So, he started a GoFundMe account in 2016, and he raised nearly $200,000.

00:01:44.740 Ever since then, Rishi has traveled to 47 different states, Canada and the United Kingdom.

00:01:52.920 His mission is to interview at least one World War II combat veteran every day until the last one passes away.

00:02:02.780 He's 21 years old.

00:02:05.620 He has answered the call to tell the stories of the men and women that were his age when they set out to defend our nation's freedom.

00:02:15.720 Today's episode, Rishi Sharma.

00:02:22.920 So, tell me about the interviews, the ones that really stand out to you.

00:02:37.940 Yeah, I mean, I've interviewed just over 900 veterans so far, but there are definitely a few that really, you know, play in your mind after you've interviewed the veteran.

00:02:46.000 And one in particular is a veteran who I interviewed out in Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area named Mr. Florentine.

00:02:52.260 What is your full name, sir?

00:02:54.360 David Joseph Florentine.

00:02:57.980 Where and when were you born?

00:03:00.780 I was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, January 21st, 1926.

00:03:08.480 And at 16 years old, he was going in first wave on Tarawa, which is called the B-8-Tow Atoll.

00:03:17.000 And basically, it's an island that's 800 feet across wide and just a mile long.

00:03:23.180 Wow.

00:03:23.780 And 3,000 Marines were killed and wounded in a three-day battle there.

00:03:28.540 And about 25,000 Japanese were all killed.

00:03:31.260 Holy cow. 0.89

00:03:31.300 Only about 20 of them were taken prisoners.

00:03:34.220 And Mr. Florentine, as he went in on the landing craft, his sergeant, Sergeant Yoakam, kept telling everyone to keep their heads down because they were taking on enemy fire.

00:03:46.260 And the way Mr. Florentine was saying it, you could feel like you were there.

00:03:51.080 I don't know what made him do this.

00:03:53.760 He'd tell us not to do it.

00:03:55.040 And what he told us not to do, he did.

00:03:57.500 He gets up, picks his head up, and that's the first sign of combat by seeing him.

00:04:05.440 He got his head shot off and landed right on my chest. 0.91

00:04:08.900 Here he is, bleeding.

00:04:12.220 I'm holding my tripod and I'm screaming, get him off of me, get him off of me.

00:04:16.280 And I was going crazy.

00:04:17.280 And I couldn't, I couldn't help him.

00:04:27.180 I couldn't help him.

00:04:29.680 And that's when we were all scared of them.

00:04:33.140 We knew, we knew we were in trouble.

00:04:35.560 And the tank was going like this.

00:04:46.960 It was full of blood.

00:04:49.060 It was terrible.

00:04:50.700 We were all full of blood.

00:04:52.560 I couldn't even hold on to my gun.

00:04:54.320 But, you know, he volunteered and he said towards the latter part of the interview that despite

00:04:59.200 how tough it was and how horrible his experiences were, he would do it again.

00:05:04.020 And he's glad that he went through it because he knows how bad the world would have been if

00:05:08.240 it wasn't for people like him.

00:05:12.260 A lot of these guys, I mean, they didn't come home and tell their stories.

00:05:16.120 It's not like it, it is kind of now where they didn't, my uncle Leo, well, landed on the

00:05:23.420 beaches of D-Day and he's, he's an in-law.

00:05:31.800 Nobody knew about his service in World War II until I came and he's 80 at the time.

00:05:39.240 We're sitting at a wedding.

00:05:40.940 He's kind of sitting by himself.

00:05:42.700 Uh, and I said, so Uncle Leo, tell me, well, what were you doing in World War II?

00:05:49.780 And he just started to tell it.

00:05:52.140 He had, I got into the car and I said, your Uncle Leo to my wife, your Uncle Leo's amazing.

00:05:57.340 She said, what are you talking about?

00:05:59.140 He had never told it to anyone.

00:06:01.340 How many of the people that you're talking to are still like that, have not shared this?

00:06:08.840 So the vast majority of the World War II, I mean, all the interviews I do are with combat

00:06:14.080 veterans.

00:06:14.640 That's the focus, uh, World War II combat veterans.

00:06:17.400 And the vast majority of them, I'm the first person that they've really opened up to in

00:06:21.660 75 years.

00:06:23.180 And, you know, and that's a, that's a really precarious position to be in, but it's very

00:06:27.340 cathartic for the veterans.

00:06:28.900 And there are three things that really helped me when I'm doing the interviews with the World

00:06:33.020 War II veterans, uh, number one's my age.

00:06:36.720 Uh, I just turned 21, but, uh, I'm roughly the same age the veterans were when they were

00:06:41.840 in combat.

00:06:42.920 Uh, the second thing is I do a lot of research before each interview.

00:06:46.000 So I know the difference between the second Marine division or what the 101st Airborne

00:06:49.540 did, or the difference between a company and a platoon.

00:06:52.440 And, you know, having that basic knowledge really makes it a lot easier for the veterans

00:06:56.640 to open up because it's hard enough to talk about the worst days of your life, but it's

00:07:00.900 even harder when you have to explain every little intricate detail to a civilian who doesn't

00:07:05.420 understand that kind of stuff.

00:07:07.280 Um, but the most important factor, sir, is that I'm not related to any of the veterans.

00:07:11.880 So there's no emotional attachment whatsoever.

00:07:14.880 And they're able to talk to me as if I'm one of the guys and they're able to really talk

00:07:19.000 about things that they wouldn't want their family to know about, you know, because in

00:07:23.460 reality, war is two things.

00:07:25.560 It's seeing your friends getting killed and it's killing people.

00:07:28.000 I don't like to talk about killing somebody because it hurts me because, you know, it's

00:07:34.660 not like, you know, there's one German, I'll talk about that one.

00:07:39.980 One kid, he lay in there dead and the guys went through the pocket and everything else.

00:07:46.280 He was about 18 years old.

00:07:48.820 He looked like American because he had only thing he didn't look, he had German uniform on.

00:07:54.000 And, and the kids went through his pocket and he threw all his stuff out.

00:08:01.220 And the photographs was of one of his mother and his sister.

00:08:07.760 And that's, that's, that's, that's what meant. 0.91

00:08:10.160 And then, and then I said to myself, just killed their son. 0.98

00:08:18.900 It's horrible, but it had to be done.

00:08:22.060 And the veterans need to know how grateful people are that they were willing to go through

00:08:27.480 with it and that they did go through with it.

00:08:29.840 And so, um, a lot of the veterans, uh, when, when we start talking about the war, it's not

00:08:39.120 really me even asking them specific questions.

00:08:41.840 A lot of them are really eager to share things, things that they felt that maybe they would

00:08:47.060 have to censor when they're talking, you know, to a family member.

00:08:50.420 That's why with all the interviews, it's just me and the veteran in the room.

00:08:53.300 Uh, I request that the family members just let us be alone because if there was a family

00:08:58.700 member there, uh, when I started doing interviews initially, the veterans would, uh, listen to

00:09:04.060 my question, look at the family member and then answer my question.

00:09:07.840 And it was so obvious that they were censoring themselves.

00:09:10.820 And I just didn't want them to be put in that position because they shouldn't feel ashamed

00:09:15.640 that they had to kill people, you know, because when they came home from the war, PTSD was

00:09:21.480 not diagnosed, they were just told to man up and move on.

00:09:24.480 And for the vast majority of them, they did, uh, they consumed themselves with work or family

00:09:29.420 life.

00:09:30.300 Um, but they, they didn't talk about it.

00:09:32.980 You're absolutely right.

00:09:36.580 What's the, what's the interview that sticks out to you that you think, I can't believe this

00:09:44.100 person has lived with this and has felt this way for this long and hasn't said anything.

00:09:49.280 So I, I interviewed one veteran who really didn't open up about his personal story until

00:09:57.040 I had come to interview him.

00:09:58.900 Uh, he, he was a twin brother, um, and they both served in the war together.

00:10:04.640 And this was out in Ohio, the veteran who I interviewed.

00:10:08.540 And in World War II, there was a story about the Sullivan brothers.

00:10:13.900 There was five brothers in the Navy who were all put on the same ship.

00:10:18.080 And during, uh, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, which is a big Island in the Pacific, uh, the

00:10:23.280 ship was sunk.

00:10:24.320 The Juno was the name of the ship and all five brothers were killed.

00:10:28.400 And so after that incident happened and it made the national news back home in the U.S., uh,

00:10:33.800 the army or the military rather, uh, made a new order saying that brothers cannot be in the

00:10:40.260 same units. Um, but the two twin brothers, they volunteered after Pearl Harbor for the army to be

00:10:48.300 in the infantry and they were separated during basic training. And they were so miserable because

00:10:53.940 they, I mean, they're the bestest of friends. They grew up as twins that their mother wrote a letter

00:10:59.200 to FDR. And I mean, I doubt FDR read it, but someone in the white house got the letter of her

00:11:05.240 requesting that they'd be put in the same unit. And it was granted. And they were put in the same

00:11:10.540 unit, uh, and they finished training and they went overseas. They were part of the 87th Infantry

00:11:16.220 Division, which is called the Golden Acorn. They got there right during the Battle of the Bulge,

00:11:20.800 which was the last German offensive in the Ardennes. And basically the story goes, uh, the two twin

00:11:28.200 brothers were amazing soldiers. Uh, I call them, uh, the dream team because, uh, they were both

00:11:34.360 bazooka men. They were part of a bazooka team and they received the silver star, both of them for

00:11:40.340 knocking out three German tanks, uh, three German mortar positions and two machine gun nests all in a

00:11:47.360 day. Uh, uh, I mean, there's a lot more to that, but you know, basically that's what it was. The two of

00:11:52.580 them worked together on their own and they knocked out all these positions. And about a week later,

00:11:58.140 uh, they were running through a field together and they were under enemy fire, German fire from a

00:12:03.780 machine gun nest. And he was running to my right front and I saw him go down. I don't know whether

00:12:09.600 machine gun or got him or what. I never did find out, uh, how bad the wound was, except he was gone.

00:12:17.060 And, uh, I was able to pray with him and talk with him for a few minutes. And from then on,

00:12:23.500 there was a sniper who was trying to get me. And so under enemy fire, he's performing last rites to

00:12:30.260 his brother who's dying from a stomach wound. And then before he finishes the last rites, a sniper,

00:12:36.480 a German sniper shoots his brother in the neck. And he said to me that at that point that he lost his

00:12:44.180 faith. And as he said, at that moment, I lost my faith. And he finished the war. He ended up being

00:12:52.300 transferred out of the infantry, uh, into a combat engineer outfit just because of how much it had

00:12:58.300 messed with him. You know, he, he was not able to perform like he did before his brother's death.

00:13:03.340 Um, but the really amazing thing about that story is that he refound his faith after the war.

00:13:09.260 Uh, and he's a very religious man. And what's interesting is he has a list of people. He showed

00:13:15.520 me a book, uh, of names that he writes down that he prays for every day that they are, that he hopes

00:13:20.380 that they're all doing well and that they're healthy and alive and people who have passed on,

00:13:24.380 he just prays for them and they're, they're so on. It was just, you know, someone who has every reason

00:13:30.580 to be upset at the world around him, right? Has no reason to even get up and be happy. His best friend

00:13:36.200 was killed. You know, he had to kill people. And yet every day he tries to make it the best day 0.99

00:13:41.540 ever. And he's so friendly. He, everyone in the community knows him. And, you know,

00:13:46.720 to be honest, sir, that's not a unique story. The unique thing about the World War II generation

00:13:54.200 is that every single day of their lives has been about other people. Uh, they've never really had a

00:14:01.500 day to themselves. They grew up in the great depression. A lot of them quit school at 12 or 13

00:14:07.020 to put food on their table, you know, get a job as a shoeshine or a paper boy. Um, their country is 0.97

00:14:13.320 attacked, you know, suddenly and viciously by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. And I've interviewed so 0.80

00:14:19.540 many veterans who literally changed their birth certificates to make themselves older, to get into

00:14:26.980 the service, or they lied about their age just to get in. And they joke that the only time someone

00:14:32.220 would do that today is to get out of doing something. And they joke about it, but it's

00:14:36.560 absolutely true. And I'm ashamed to say that my generation is really not up to par when it comes to

00:14:42.020 the World War II generation, because they volunteered to put themselves in a position. It's not like they 0.94

00:14:47.440 wanted to die, but they were willing to put themselves in that position. And they go on to fight in the

00:14:52.060 worst war in the history of humanity. 70 million people killed worldwide from 1939 to 1945.

00:15:00.660 They have to see their friends getting killed. They have to kill people. They have to live out 0.99

00:15:03.680 of foxholes. They have to worry if their plane's getting shot out of the air and blown up. They

00:15:07.860 have to worry if they're going to sink in the middle of the ocean, you know, and they come home

00:15:12.640 and all they want is their jobs back. You know, it's not like they want any valor or parades. Most of the

00:15:18.900 veterans really didn't even come home to parades. Because what had happened is the veterans who

00:15:23.500 were over in the European theater, when that war ended, the war with Japan was still going on.

00:15:29.740 So a lot of the replacements, the new replacements in the European theater immediately got shipped

00:15:34.640 away from there back to the U.S. to prepare to invade Japan. And so they ended up getting to go

00:15:42.060 home a lot earlier than the people who had been there for four or five years. But the point is they

00:15:46.420 came home and they just raised families. And they were, you know, were pillars in their community,

00:15:53.260 are pillars in their community. I mean, that generation put man on the moon, you know.

00:15:59.100 Built America for what it was known for in its greatest apex.

00:16:03.760 Literally. I mean, they literally created the pillars of our society today.

00:16:07.520 And they came back with, I don't remember what it's called, the duck pin that they could wear

00:16:13.660 that allowed them to wear the uniform because they didn't have clothes.

00:16:17.220 You're absolutely right.

00:16:18.440 Right? Well, what is that pin called? Do you remember?

00:16:20.240 It's called a duck pin.

00:16:21.340 Okay, yeah.

00:16:22.040 It's a ruptured duck.

00:16:23.140 That's it. Ruptured duck, yeah.

00:16:25.120 It's because, you know, do not think that they were just, you know, out in the town.

00:16:28.420 Right.

00:16:28.760 But that's literally, that is the clothes that they had.

00:16:31.180 Because they didn't have anything else. And there was no really clothes that they could

00:16:34.260 afford or that were in the stores at that time when they came back.

00:16:37.040 Absolutely.

00:16:37.580 Different world.

00:16:38.120 I mean, and the thing is, though, what's hard for people to comprehend, I feel, is that

00:16:44.720 410,000 Americans were killed in the war. I mean, that's a big number. It's such a big

00:16:51.240 number that I could say a million and it wouldn't make a difference because it's just too abstract.

00:16:56.040 But what really, you know, plays on my mind is each one of those casualties, those men who

00:17:02.500 were killed, the boys, I should say, you know, the average age was like 19 getting killed.

00:17:08.120 They had a mom and a dad. They had a pet dog named Spot. They had a girlfriend. They

00:17:12.300 cheated on some math test. They had this whole life and a personality. All these emotions.

00:17:16.520 I mean, they were as real as you and I.

00:17:17.920 I can tell you one thing you want to know. A fellow, a fellow and I was real close buddies.

00:17:26.360 He's a B.A.R. man. You know what that is, I told you. And I was an assistant, but we

00:17:32.140 changed off. We was advancing towards the Germans. They pulled back. We didn't know. The whole 0.84

00:17:40.040 company was advancing. And we seen a bunch of Germans out there probably pretty close 0.99

00:17:49.880 the 500 yards. But they seen us at the same time. Well, side of the road, there was grass. So when

00:17:57.320 they seen us, they all went in that grass. My partner, that B.A.R., he set it up and he went

00:18:04.100 to fire and he was right in that grass. And you could hear him screaming, hollering. He was hitting

00:18:08.700 them. But they preached to you and they preached to you. With a machine gun, don't shoot very

00:18:14.740 many, many run, move. He got so carried away, he didn't move. And I was probably five feet 0.62

00:18:21.680 from him. They cut him right down on the machine gun. It took me a long time to get over. It

00:18:27.360 still does. You see what I mean? He got so carried away, he didn't move, see? They figured

00:18:41.240 out where he's at. It brings you right back there. But I know the trouble. I know the trouble.

00:18:51.380 He knew he was doing a lot of good. He was killing them, but they soon figured out where

00:18:58.660 that's coming from. See what I'm getting at?

00:19:20.120 What did they have that you didn't have or your generation doesn't have? Why is there that 0.95

00:19:28.500 difference? Have you figured that out? Why is it that you just said your generation wouldn't do

00:19:33.980 that, but they did? What's the difference?

00:19:37.440 It's a good question. I wish I had the answer. You know, I'm obviously biased. I don't have any

00:19:44.500 friends my own age. All my friends are World War II veterans, right? The people who I look up to,

00:19:48.600 the people who I talk to for just to call for advice, who I visit, it's all World War II veterans.

00:19:54.820 But what I do remember from my, you know, in high school and things like that,

00:19:58.820 the World War II generation, they had to work for what they have or what they got, you know?

00:20:05.820 There, it wasn't, things weren't just handed to them, which sounds quite cliche to say, but it's true. 0.97

00:20:11.780 You know, I think today with social media and the use of the smartphones, at the top of a button,

00:20:18.380 you can order a taxi, at the top of a button, you can order food. It's this whole instant gratification

00:20:23.020 that carries on from the phone into real life. So people become a lot more impatient with one

00:20:29.800 another, a lot more aggravated. I don't know if you've, I don't know if you've heard this theory,

00:20:34.160 but part of that came from the greatest generation. When they came home,

00:20:41.180 it had been so long since they had anything and they didn't want their kids to go through any

00:20:51.300 struggle. And so they came back home. They worked hard. Kid wants ice cream. I'm getting them ice

00:20:57.380 cream because there was no ice cream when I was growing up. And so they, well, they saved us.

00:21:02.940 They also put us on this track where their kids were, were doted on because of their life.

00:21:12.760 You're absolutely right. I mean, they grew up, that generation grew up in the great depression

00:21:16.740 and in the worst war in human history. So when they had children, the biggest issue that their

00:21:22.080 kids had, the baby boomer generation is if they had a pimple on prom night, right? It was the happy 1.00

00:21:26.640 days kind of generation. And then when they have kids, you know, they're already one generation

00:21:32.100 removed from the bloodshed and sacrifice of the 1930s and forties. And then when they had kids,

00:21:37.380 my generation, you know, what's world war two is, you know, what's on their mind. And

00:21:42.120 while I would agree that in a way it is the veterans, I don't think, I don't think they did

00:21:47.160 on purpose. No, no, no, they did. It was logical. It's logical. It's human to do what they did,

00:21:52.300 but we have become generation after generation more and more disconnected from that, which is

00:21:59.580 odd because we've never been able to access information at a faster rate. We have literally

00:22:05.340 all this information at our fingertips. In reality, I think from a logical standpoint, one would think

00:22:11.620 that this youngest generation should know the most about world war two and that kind of thing

00:22:16.600 because they have all the information there. But I really, I mean, to go back to your original

00:22:21.760 question, what the difference is, I think a lot of it is just about upbringing. People today,

00:22:29.980 it's a very me, me, me kind of world. And like a good example is the front facing camera on a

00:22:37.520 smartphone. I think that's going to go down in history as one of the worst inventions because it

00:22:41.560 gives people a false sense of that every single thought that they have deserves to be heard and

00:22:46.360 everyone should listen to it. And let me take a million selfies, let everyone see what I'm doing.

00:22:50.440 Whereas the world war two generation, it's not about me. What can I do for you? How can I help

00:22:55.680 you? You know, it, it's just not really no other way to say it. It's like you came from another

00:23:02.280 planet. Where, where did you come from? How did this happen to you? I know you were young,

00:23:09.380 you were fascinated by world war two, you learned everything you could, but that's usually where it

00:23:16.060 ends. Yeah. I mean, to be very honest, I mean, ever since I was a little kid,

00:23:21.300 I've always been interested in world war two. All I ever wanted to be was a Marine. But when I

00:23:28.120 thought of a Marine, I thought of an 18 year old with nothing but the shirt on his back and a rifle

00:23:32.340 in his hand fighting in the jungles of Guadalcanal or fighting in the sands of Iwo Jima, you know,

00:23:38.640 this good versus evil fight. And obviously no war is just black and white, but there was something

00:23:43.220 so altruistic about that war and the men who fought in it. That one was pretty black and white. 0.79

00:23:48.440 That was really good versus evil. Absolutely. And so, you know, that fascination, I mean,

00:23:54.460 I would read books about the matter, as you said earlier. I mean, I watched movies, but

00:23:58.920 I've just always had a feeling about the veterans. And as I got older, I lost interest in the joining up

00:24:05.640 with the military, but I never lost interest in the veterans. And so I just, you know, I started

00:24:11.500 reading personal memoirs from veterans and I started to call them up after I read the memoir,

00:24:17.060 because it's so easy to find information now online. And it was the coolest feeling in the

00:24:22.600 world. How old were you when you made the first phone call? Oh, I think I was 16. Did you tape it?

00:24:27.400 No, no. It was just out of fascination. I mean, I just, I had read this veteran's book. His name

00:24:32.740 was Lyle Buch. And he got the Distinguished Service Cross. And during the Battle of the Bulge,

00:24:39.880 basically his platoon was credited for stopping a major part of the Battle of the Bulge. About 19 men

00:24:45.100 stopped 500 Germans and he was the platoon leader. I just read his book and I just looked up his number

00:24:51.500 and I called him and I just started to talk to him. Did you say, are you the guy?

00:24:55.540 Well, the funny thing is I, uh, he was in the Midwest and I'm in California. And so it was

00:25:03.800 about, I was so excited when I read his book that when I found his number, I called around 11 o'clock.

00:25:10.320 Oh my gosh. So it's like one or two o'clock in the morning. Yeah. And it was really early over there.

00:25:15.520 And I told myself, maybe I should wait, but I was just too excited. I had to. Did he talk to you at

00:25:20.700 the time? He said, can you please call back in the morning? That's so funny. And then, uh, we spoke and

00:25:25.860 it was just such a lovely thing. And that's what really made me realize that I could talk to these

00:25:32.260 people. You know, they're out there. It's not like stupid celebrities where there's a gated, you know,

00:25:37.200 thousand dates you have to go through. You know, in reality, it shouldn't be like that. You know, 0.99

00:25:40.900 there should be a line of people at every retirement home banging on the door, wanting to go in and

00:25:45.220 embrace all that knowledge and wisdom that each one of those people carry. You know,

00:25:49.500 you can go up to any World War II veteran. You can ask them anything about the past 100 years

00:25:54.420 and you'll get a firsthand answer as a response. But after I talked to him, I started riding my bike

00:26:00.380 to the local retirement home and I interviewed every single veteran there. And I just, I loved it.

00:26:05.980 And, uh, I then started, uh, to ditch class to go do interviews because I was learning more from

00:26:12.300 the veterans than I was in school. Um, and around that time, the local, uh, paper did a story

00:26:19.340 and people started calling me, you know, and saying, you know, my dad's a World War II veteran

00:26:23.600 or my neighbor's a World War II veteran. And so I just, it was just very natural the way it worked

00:26:28.540 out. I started making appointments because I was just so fascinated. Of course, all these were

00:26:32.780 recorded. The radius that I was traveling in just kept getting bigger and bigger. And by this time I

00:26:38.280 started to drive. And then, uh, around the same time I graduated high school, the Associated Press did

00:26:45.440 the story about my mission, which really helped get the word out. And then from that point onward,

00:26:50.640 I mean, I got like 3000 emails in a day from people all across the country saying, you know,

00:26:55.440 I know a World War II veteran or, you know, this and that, or, you know, you should, you should come

00:26:59.680 here. You should come there. And I just, I figured out this is what, this is what I'm going to do.

00:27:04.560 And I made my mission then that I'm going to interview at least, uh, as many World War II combat

00:27:10.400 veterans every single day until the last one passes away. When we got to Holland,

00:27:15.360 we were short of men because several had been, uh, wounded or killed. And so we had some reinforcements

00:27:25.360 sent to us. And one of these was a young man called Robbie, Robbie Robinson, uh, which he,

00:27:33.280 uh, he talked to me. I think he looked upon me as a, as a father figure. Um, and, but he was very

00:27:41.840 scared. He was scared he was going to get killed. I said, well, you stick with me, Robbie. I said,

00:27:46.080 you'll, you'll, you'll, you'll be all right. I couldn't say he wouldn't get killed. But anyhow, 0.66

00:27:51.920 one day we were advancing across a field and there was a, um, a sergeant and there was, uh, Robbie was

00:28:04.800 between the sergeant and myself. And we, uh, apparently there was a, a German self-propelled gun,

00:28:11.840 uh, was hidden in some trees across the field and, and, uh, uh, it, it fired at us. One shell hit,

00:28:21.600 hit the road in front of us and Robbie said, oh, I've been hit. So I, uh, undone his tunic and he had

00:28:30.800 been hit. Uh, uh, and he died within a few, few seconds in, in, in my arms. Yeah.

00:28:37.840 What do you, what do you hope to do with this amazing archive?

00:28:46.400 So to be very honest with you, sir, my focus is just getting the veterans interviewed. What I do

00:28:51.120 with the interviews, they're all filmed interviews. I meet the veteran, I film, interview him. I put it

00:28:55.640 on a DVD and then I mail it to him for him and his family. It's really keeping one. Yeah. I keep

00:29:01.480 copies of them all. Um, at this point in time, you know, I'm just one person. My focus is just getting

00:29:07.620 the veterans documented. Ideally, you know, we, I also donate to like oral history museums and I

00:29:13.220 published some of them online with the veterans permission, but I really don't know. I, I mean,

00:29:19.220 the point of the interviewing and recording it is so that 200 years from now, the future generations

00:29:26.020 will still be able to have the honor and privilege of getting to know literally the greatest men who've

00:29:30.900 ever walked on this face of the earth. Like I've gotten to know them. And so that their stories

00:29:36.260 will not be forgotten. So he, Ozzy got a hold of that and, uh, hey, you guys back up and give us a pull. We're stuck.

00:29:45.780 And he took my hat and it had the radio in there. And that tank back, started backing up.

00:29:56.980 And that sniper and they nailed him behind the head and blew the whole top of his head off.

00:30:06.500 What did he look like?

00:30:07.540 Oh, no, he, no, he, you can't describe it. It's just, he fell down and he just laid there and shook his nerves,

00:30:17.300 you know. And, uh, I went and rolled him over and from here on his head was gone.

00:30:25.860 And just, just, and the medics come right away and says, who's hit up there? I says, Ozzy.

00:30:35.700 And so one of the medics jumped up and got him and laid him on the, uh, grass there and looked at me

00:30:46.420 and says, he's gone. And he says, his top of his head's gone. So that was it. Then we started trying

00:30:57.220 to find a sniper. We never did find him. Hell, he could have been a half a mile off because he had

00:31:05.540 time to zero in on everything on the tank.

00:31:09.380 What was going on in your head? This is, you know, your first day.

00:31:16.580 I, well,

00:31:20.580 I'll admit, you kind of put yourself in that position.

00:31:27.220 This could happen to me, so. But then you go on.

00:31:31.700 Were you scared?

00:31:33.620 Hmm?

00:31:34.500 Were you scared?

00:31:35.460 Oh, I'd be lying to you if I wasn't scared. Yes, I was scared.

00:31:45.700 You don't realize as young as you are and as active, you know, active as you are,

00:31:54.820 that this could happen to you until something like that shows you it could happen.

00:32:05.460 So what, what are the things that you

00:32:24.420 have learned besides the history? What is it that you have said?

00:32:34.020 Oh my gosh. I mean, this is just

00:32:38.100 wisdom that nobody, nobody has the opportunity to just, is there a pattern of something that they've,

00:32:46.420 that they've learned through their life? Or is there something that you have,

00:32:50.900 have discovered that is, has changed you?

00:32:54.900 Yeah. I think, you know,

00:32:58.100 when I was younger, I was really self-conscious about how I looked, you know, middle school age,

00:33:02.260 right? I think everyone is, but I was really self-conscious with how I looked and, you know,

00:33:05.780 what people thought of me and everything.

00:33:07.220 Um, as I started to interview the veterans, you know, I, like I said, all the focus,

00:33:13.380 the majority of each interview is focused on combat. And so the biggest thing that I've learned

00:33:19.540 from the veterans is perspective. Um, and how that, you know, although you're not having internet

00:33:26.180 connection may seem like a big issue or being stuck in traffic is the end of the world. It's not.

00:33:32.020 And, and I can always go back to that because I've met guys who literally saw their best friends

00:33:36.660 getting killed right next to them. Or I've met people that had to bayonet someone just in front

00:33:40.900 of them just to survive, you know? And so me, you know, uh, not having internet access is not a big

00:33:48.660 issue. I mean, I remember one example is my first out-of-state trip was to Oregon and, you know,

00:33:55.140 I'm from sunny California and I was packing for the trip and it was like 90 degrees in California.

00:34:01.540 And my mom put, uh, some winter clothes in the car cause it was in fall. And I said,

00:34:07.060 why would you put winter clothes in there? And I just put it back in my room. My first day in

00:34:10.980 Oregon, it snowed. And at that time I was living out of the car, you know, I just put the back seat,

00:34:16.740 I would just sleep in the back seat and I had no blankets or anything. And I was freezing. I mean,

00:34:21.780 it was, it was hard to sleep, but I thought to myself, you know what? The veteran who I interviewed

00:34:26.900 earlier, uh, during the day was in the battle of the bulge and his feet were literally frostbitten.

00:34:34.180 He had toes removed because of how cold it was. I can't complain about, you know, being mildly,

00:34:39.620 mildly uncomfortable on the back of my car. I mean, a lot of little things like that,

00:34:44.660 like what I, I think a lot of people really worry about blemishes or how they look to be very honest

00:34:49.460 with you. I mean, hope it, I hope it doesn't happen, but I can have a huge scar right here.

00:34:55.140 And I don't think it would bother me because I'm alive. And I think that's, I mean, what's

00:35:02.580 the veterans really try to make this point stick is that life is about the people you meet and how

00:35:09.380 they make you feel and the experiences you had. You know, no one's going to care about how many

00:35:14.420 Facebook friends you had or what witty Twitter post you made or how many Instagram followers you had.

00:35:18.900 It's about real experiences that you have with people around you and making the most of your

00:35:23.860 life and trying to help as many people and making the world a better place than it was

00:35:28.740 before you were here. I mean, that's what they really impart is

00:35:34.500 you have a purpose in life, make the most of your life and try to help other people.

00:35:39.220 Do you ever get the feeling that they're

00:35:47.940 ashamed of what we've done?

00:35:49.380 Oh, absolutely. I, one of the questions I ask is that, uh, I didn't mean to cut you off.

00:35:54.580 No, no, that's it. Yeah.

00:35:55.540 Um, uh, so the way the interviews are structured, sir, I mean, it's really just a conversation, but

00:36:02.900 the loose outline, you know, we talk about their growing up years in the depression,

00:36:07.060 how they got into the service. Then the majority of it is on combat, what they saw, what they did,

00:36:11.780 what they went through, their living conditions, being under enemy fire. And then, uh, one part of

00:36:17.300 the interview is what I call the reflection period, which are just, you know, common questions I ask

00:36:21.780 every single veteran, you know, what life advice do you want to give to future generations? If you were

00:36:26.340 to give me some advice for my life, what would you tell me? Were you afraid of getting killed when you

00:36:30.740 were in the war? Are you afraid of death now? You know, what do you believe happens after you pass?

00:36:35.700 Um, how do you want to be remembered as what kind of person? But one of the, those reflection

00:36:40.820 questions is what would you want to say to the men who were killed in the war? And I was shocked

00:36:49.060 when I first started to hear, it's a very common answer, but basically the veterans say, you know,

00:36:53.700 I wish you were here. I miss you. They'll talk about their friends who were killed and they then say,

00:36:59.700 you died in vain, you died for nothing. It was worthless. Um, and you know, although they definitely

00:37:07.540 got rid of the immediate evil, right? During the time with Germany and Japan, a lot of the veterans 0.99

00:37:13.620 have a feeling now that what was the point of what they went through if people aren't even going to

00:37:19.300 acknowledge it and learn from those sacrifices. Um, a lot of them, it's really sad to be very honest,

00:37:27.060 because I feel that I'm a part, I am a part of that younger generation. And I'm a part of it too.

00:37:32.020 I mean, and we're 30 years apart. I mean, it's not like they're talking directly to us, but I still

00:37:37.780 take responsibility. But the world that we are living in today was not the world that the veterans fought

00:37:45.660 for. And it makes me sad as well to think. What did they fight for?

00:37:49.780 I mean, you could say like, you know, cliche words like freedom and democracy and all that kind of

00:37:56.980 stuff. Tell me what they really fought for. I think the veterans of World War II fought for

00:38:02.180 a country where anyone from anywhere can be anything without any fear of repercussion.

00:38:08.900 Um, where we can wake up in a world where our house isn't bombed out every single day, which is

00:38:15.220 true. Or we can go up to anyone, say whatever we want without any fear that there's going to be some

00:38:21.220 big brother government coming to silence us, which I know earlier today you talked about. I mean,

00:38:26.820 well, there are other organizations that do the same thing.

00:38:29.140 We're just turning into mobs on each other. I don't like what you say, so I have a right to silence you.

00:38:35.780 Which is not the way to go about it. You can't mute something you don't like. You discuss it.

00:38:40.900 And intelligent people are obviously going to choose the right side to be on. But you just,

00:38:46.980 just covering something up is not getting rid of it. I think they also fought for a world

00:38:53.620 where people can dream about what they want to be and what their life would be like 30, 40,

00:38:59.700 50 years down the road. Which, which is true. I mean, I mean, uh, you know, my people in my

00:39:05.380 generation, they think about what they want to do in their future. Whereas, you know, 18 year olds

00:39:10.260 today is a lot different than being 18 year old in World War II. You didn't know if you were going

00:39:14.980 to survive the next day and many of them didn't. Um, but people have their whole lives ahead of them.

00:39:20.820 And it seems that they're really squandering a lot of it on, on, on useless things that,

00:39:26.500 that the veterans just didn't fight for. It's, uh, it's sad.

00:39:32.260 You're obviously from Indian descent. Here's your name. Um,

00:39:41.060 it's popular to say that the, uh, greatest generation was also really racist and there

00:39:48.100 were awful people and everything else. Have you had anyone say anything, uh, uh, about you

00:39:56.100 having Indian descent? Have you seen racism in them?

00:39:59.540 I can just answer that question with one word. No, I love you because what people don't understand

00:40:07.460 is that my parents immigrated from India. I, my sister and I were born and raised in California,

00:40:13.460 the World War II generation, same exact boat. A lot of them were first generation immigrants.

00:40:19.620 Right. And I can honestly say in over 900 interviews of veterans, uh, I've never felt

00:40:28.980 discriminated against. I've never felt that they looked at me differently than anyone else.

00:40:34.020 I feel like a human being. Have you, have you talked to African-Americans that fought in the war?

00:40:41.620 So, uh, in World War II, it was segregated. Right. So like, you know, my focus is on combat,

00:40:47.220 which really just means I enter, I interview white veterans, you know, no other way to say it.

00:40:51.860 Because they were, they were not allowed, I think in the combat, right?

00:40:55.940 Yeah. There were some specific units, like there's the Buffalo division that fought in Italy. Right.

00:41:00.820 Then you have the Tuskegee Airmen. There was a tank outfit that was black, but really other than that,

00:41:06.020 they were designated to be truck drivers and that kind of thing, rear echelon. And so I, I have

00:41:12.740 interviewed a few black veterans who fought with the 92nd Buffalo division.

00:41:17.780 Which all of those divisions, if I'm not mistaken, all of them outperformed the white soldiers.

00:41:24.420 The black unit, the 92nd Infantry Division actually is known for not doing well at all.

00:41:29.380 Really?

00:41:29.940 Yeah. I think the unit that you're talking about is the 442.

00:41:34.260 Maybe.

00:41:34.660 It's, it's the Japanese American unit that was called the Purple Heart Battalion.

00:41:39.060 Um, and they were, you know, Japanese Americans, obviously of Japanese descent.

00:41:44.740 Uh, they couldn't fight the Japanese. And so they were set, put in a separate unit, 0.86

00:41:50.660 and they ended up fighting in North Africa, Italy, and into France. And they ended up being

00:41:56.100 one of the most highly decorated regiments. And they got more Purple Hearts per person

00:42:03.940 than any of the other units of their size. And they also got quite a few Medal of Honors.

00:42:08.580 Uh, have you talked to any of them?

00:42:10.820 Oh, I've interviewed veterans, yeah, of that unit. In California, there's a lot of Japanese

00:42:14.740 American veterans.

00:42:15.540 And they had every reason not to want to be patriotic and fight for America, because what FDR did with

00:42:27.780 the internment camps was horrific. Have you talked to them about how they made that mental jump?

00:42:36.900 Yeah, well, see, uh, the way they talk about it is, they're American, which is true.

00:42:45.140 You know, when I asked them about the racial thing, they said, you know, other people can

00:42:48.580 think what they want to think. I was born and raised in the U.S. I'm American.

00:42:52.740 But what I'm asking is, how did, they knew that, I know that, but when their family is put in a camp,

00:43:01.300 how did they, how did they, I don't know, thread that needle?

00:43:07.540 A lot of them actually volunteered from the camps to get out. Now, you know, you could say they

00:43:12.980 volunteered because they didn't want to be stuck in a camp anymore.

00:43:15.140 Uh, you know, I don't know if I would rather go into, uh, into combat, but, uh, I think a lot of

00:43:22.260 them just felt that it was the right thing to do. The veterans who I've interviewed, I've never

00:43:26.500 interviewed a veteran who was in a camp and volunteered. All the veterans who I interviewed

00:43:30.420 were original 442 veterans or when the, cause they were, the unit was originally formed before

00:43:35.860 the internment camps. Um, but then they got the replacements from the internment camps, uh, to

00:43:42.500 fill in their ranks when there were casualties. I, um, was lucky enough to have a family

00:43:51.940 send me the archive of a woman named Leo, uh, Rio Soto. Um, she was an artist. She was put into an

00:43:59.380 internment camp. She was a remarkable woman. Um, she ended up getting out and she did most of the

00:44:05.940 schematics for our bombers. So when you were, when you were training to be a pilot, it was her,

00:44:14.260 all of her artwork that was being used. And, uh, when she died, her family, she told her family

00:44:21.060 about the internment close to her deathbed, never had said anything. And the family said that they were

00:44:28.020 shocked because here's a woman that could have had all of the axes to grind. And they said she was 1.00

00:44:35.380 the most American American. It's really remarkable people. I just think that, I don't know, I can't

00:44:45.060 say enough praise about that generation. I really believe that that generation, I mean, they're real

00:44:50.020 life superheroes and it's really, I think, unfortunate the way people, I just don't understand.

00:44:57.780 It's really hard for me to understand why people don't treat them better or why people don't have

00:45:02.420 respect for the elderly. Cause oftentimes I'll go to retirement homes. And I know that this veteran

00:45:08.260 I'm talking to is a legitimate warrior. He's a war hero. And he went through hell and back just so that

00:45:13.300 someone like me could have a chance at life 75 years later. But the way people talk to him, it's like,

00:45:18.980 he's an incoherent five-year-old that can't tell his left from his right, just cause he's older.

00:45:23.140 You know, I think there's this huge misconception with the elderly that they're just old funny

00:45:28.340 duddies in wheelchairs, just, you know, waiting to kick the can. But if anyone takes the time to 1.00

00:45:33.220 actually interact with them and talk to them like normal human beings, which they are,

00:45:36.740 but with a degree of respect, instead of talking down to them, they will learn that these people are

00:45:41.860 the most intelligent and awe inspiring. I mean, storytellers really that I think have ever

00:45:47.780 walked on this planet. I interviewed a veteran like two weeks ago. He's 105 and he still rides

00:45:54.660 a bicycle, you know, like a legitimate bicycle. I mean, it's like, I talked to a, we had a listener

00:46:01.220 who was a fan of ours. He was, um, over a hundred and, uh, I sat down with him sharp as a tack. He told

00:46:10.580 me what it was like the day wall street crashed in 1929. It was what, I mean, it's hard to get your

00:46:20.740 arms around. You were there. You saw it. That's incredible. Incredible. So one part of the interview,

00:46:29.300 I have the veterans hold up a photo of them in uniform, uh, and, you know, often when they're

00:46:35.620 younger and then right next to their face, you get a before and after. And it's at that point,

00:46:40.660 I realized that the stories that this older man has been telling me, it's not stories about someone

00:46:46.100 else. It's him. He was the same guy that went through all those combat experiences that, you know,

00:46:51.780 had to shoot at people that had to see his friends getting killed, that had live and fall out of live

00:46:55.140 out of foxholes, had to worry about artillery shells coming in every day. You know, he's not telling me

00:47:00.900 a story about someone. This is firsthand knowledge. What, what are you, I'm fascinated by you and you

00:47:09.140 give me a great deal of hope. Uh, how, how, how is your generation with hearing your stories?

00:47:17.460 Like I said, to be very, I'm just being very brutally honest. I don't hang out with anyone

00:47:22.580 my age. I was at a, this is gonna be an embarrassing story. It was true. See, I mean,

00:47:28.100 I don't drink and I don't smoke, but I was, uh, I had again, you're from another planet hats off to

00:47:34.020 your parents. They are wonderful people. I got to believe they've done a great job.

00:47:39.220 I think, you know, to be very honest, um, my upbringing, the, who I am now is really from

00:47:45.060 the veterans. I think, uh, they've really filled in a father figure role for me and they've really,

00:47:52.740 you know, if you hang out for you, you know, I mean, but, um, what I was going to say though,

00:47:56.820 is I was, I had an interview in, uh, Damone, Iowa and I'd gotten there early and I was staying at a,

00:48:05.860 uh, oh, what do you call them? Hostel, you know, to save on the money. And there was another guy

00:48:13.860 staying there and, uh, I needed a ride to the grocery store to go get some food. And he, he

00:48:20.740 was going out there. And so he took me to the grocery store and then he made me go to a bar

00:48:26.100 after with him. And I was just so uncomfortable because I mean, that's just not my scene.

00:48:31.860 But the point is of the story, there was a girl at the bar who's quite pretty and, uh, 0.86

00:48:37.380 I didn't know what to do or anything, you know? And, uh, but he, he, he, he'd given me $5.

00:48:43.700 He said, you know, if you want a ride back home, you have to buy her a drink. And so,

00:48:47.860 I mean, I don't drink. So I asked her, you know, can I buy you a drink? And she says, uh,

00:48:52.020 sure. And she lists this whole long name. And I said, can I write that down? I don't even know what

00:48:55.460 that is. And so I just, I just told, I gave the bartender the money and said, you know,

00:48:59.220 just get her whatever she wants, you know? But the point is she started talking to me,

00:49:04.660 asked me what I started, what I did. I spent the next half hour, we're just showing her different

00:49:09.140 interviews of the veterans. And I started just talking about how amazing that generation is

00:49:13.140 and how awesome they are. And my, my friend from the hospital was just sitting there going like

00:49:17.380 this. And he's like, he's like, that's not how you pick up a girl. But you know, I mean, for me,

00:49:21.980 I mean, I don't care about that kind of thing. I care. I'm a lot, I'm a lot more,

00:49:25.180 my friend, people like to say I'm attracted to old men, which is in a way is true, I guess. 1.00

00:49:30.620 But you know, it's, uh, I mean, but I mean, there's all joking aside, there's just something

00:49:36.920 about that generation. I think a lot of people are born and they live their lives and they die

00:49:45.340 without really making an impact around them. And truth be told, if they did not exist, the world

00:49:51.540 probably would not be different. But you can't say that about a single World War II veteran.

00:49:57.080 I re I really believe that each one of them has done so much more for other people than people can

00:50:02.280 ever do for them. And it's not like they were doing it for that reason. They weren't doing it for the

00:50:06.620 valor or for the glory. They were doing it because it was the right thing. And I just think that at a

00:50:13.160 time when it was so crystal clear for people, you know, what's right and wrong and just, you do what you

00:50:18.740 have to do to help people. It's yeah. Yeah. You know, you, you say that, um, people live their

00:50:27.300 life and they die and maybe things don't change, but I was, um, I was waiting for my daughter one day

00:50:36.640 at lunch. It's when I was living in New York city and there's a restaurant, um, right at the side of

00:50:44.760 the ice rink and it was cold and it was winter and I'm sitting right at the glass. So I'm looking

00:50:51.280 right at the ice rink and people can sit down and they can change their shoes before they go out in

00:50:57.560 the ice. And as I was waiting, I was just watching everybody. And this woman came, she was probably

00:51:04.380 about 28, 30 years old. She was wearing a big heavy coat and a frumpy hat. And there was nothing

00:51:11.800 special about her. And I just watched her and I only noticed her cause she sat right in front 1.00

00:51:17.760 and then noticed she was carrying a bag. And so she unzips a bag and here are these really nice

00:51:25.000 ice skates. Um, and she's not wearing anything that's expensive or anything, but she had obviously

00:51:32.680 paid some money from the, for the ice skates. She laces them up. She gets out on the ice and I watch

00:51:39.400 her and she has become an artist. She, her movement was so graceful and she was, she was an artist on

00:51:48.760 the ice. She skated for about 20 minutes, sat down, took her shoes off, zipped them up, put her frumpy

00:51:56.180 coat on and her hat. And I wish I could have followed her because I wondered in Manhattan, 16 million

00:52:07.080 people, you can become invisible. So easy. I wondered how many people in her office saw her as the

00:52:16.940 accountant or the receptionist and had no idea the art that was in this woman's soul. We are missing it 1.00

00:52:27.560 because there are, what is it now? 4 trillion, a billion people on the planet. There's 4 billion

00:52:37.420 stories and we're, we're living around so many of them and we, we just don't go for them. We just

00:52:45.980 don't look for them. I mean, they're everywhere. I mean, I mean, there's literally, I mean, back to the

00:52:52.440 veterans. I mean, there's literally retirement homes in every single town across the country. I mean,

00:52:57.560 it's, and I just, it's like, sometimes I feel, I mean, you've been into retirement homes, right?

00:53:05.700 When you're walking down, like it's sometimes it's kind of like a hotel, the corridor with all the

00:53:10.620 different rooms. It's, it's a weird feeling, but it's almost like Narnia, you know, cause you could go

00:53:18.380 into each one of those rooms, just open the door and you're in a whole different world. There's just

00:53:24.320 so much wisdom and knowledge accumulated over that time that, you know, each one of those people,

00:53:29.580 I mean, they're special. And they, like you said, I mean, I mean, I didn't mean to say that no one,

00:53:34.600 you know, is special. I mean, I spoke to the veterans or a tier above. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

00:53:38.800 I understand. But everyone has their own unique story and is special.

00:53:48.380 I often think of what a hell Stephen Hawking would have lived in with ALS. If you couldn't

00:54:14.280 give him a computer to talk, how many people would have said, Oh, Mr. Hawking, how are you? And he's

00:54:21.520 doing three-dimensional modeling in his head. How many veterans we talk down to? Yeah. I mean, it's

00:54:28.020 people look at someone just at how they look on the outside and they make instant judgments about them.

00:54:38.040 And that's how they decide to carry on their conversation. And they don't realize that there's

00:54:43.620 so much you can take from a veteran knowledge-wise a lot more than you would think just by looking at

00:54:49.740 them. You know, I mean, they really have the best advice. They have the best, because they've gone

00:54:55.180 through everything, you know? I mean, it's, I don't know who would be a better role model than a World

00:55:00.960 War II veteran for anyone.

00:55:03.160 What are you going to do when you're done with this project?

00:55:05.900 I mean, so my mission is to do it till the last World War II veteran dies. 0.62

00:55:09.780 Still probably...

00:55:10.800 10, 15 years.

00:55:11.960 Yeah. So that's a lot of life left for you. What do you think you're going to do? What do you think

00:55:17.180 you're going to be? What is this? Who are you when this is over?

00:55:21.700 To be very honest, sir, I really haven't thought about it. Because my focus is just on the interviews.

00:55:27.880 I mean, I haven't been home in two years. I've just been on the road. I've been to 47 states,

00:55:33.620 U.S., Canada, and I just came back from the U.K. I just, with my job of getting the veterans

00:55:40.240 interviewed, it doesn't allow me the opportunity to think about what I want to do. You know,

00:55:46.140 I'm more focused about my interview tomorrow, the interview next week. And to be very honest,

00:55:50.480 I like it that way, because I think life is for living in the present. I mean, I'm sure I have

00:55:56.640 some plans, but my most important thing, I can guarantee this, I believe that the most important

00:56:02.540 thing I'm ever going to do in my life is what I'm doing now. And that if I had all the money in the

00:56:07.020 world, I would still be doing this. Because the feeling you get talking to someone who went through

00:56:13.240 the worst war in the history of humanity and is opening up for the first time about what he had

00:56:17.800 to see and what he had to do, because he feels, and rightfully so, that he trusts you with all his

00:56:23.340 raw emotion in all his stories to be the carrier of that, to help ease that burden. It's the most

00:56:30.960 wonderful feeling in the world, because when you see guys getting blown up next to you, when you see

00:56:36.480 guys trying to stuff their guts back inside, when you have to kill someone, it's lonely when you're

00:56:41.120 the only person that knows what that's like. And it's so hard when you, when they came home, 0.52

00:56:46.420 because you can't even, it's not, it's not even that they just didn't want to talk about it.

00:56:49.740 It was hard, hard to explain. And so once they realize that there's someone that they can just

00:56:56.260 jump into the story with, without explaining the intricate details, it really just, they're like

00:57:02.960 open books. And I really believe it helps them to know that there's someone out there who doesn't

00:57:08.680 judge them, who they're not going to run into at the grocery store, who's probably going to be in a

00:57:12.700 different state, you know, who knows a little bit about their story and is able to empathize with

00:57:21.380 them and talk to them about it. Because a lot of them don't want their kids to know that they had

00:57:27.060 to kill people. You know, that's, they don't want their kids to look at them in a different light.

00:57:32.400 They want to be dad. They want to be grandpa.

00:57:34.320 But there's so much more than that. I mean, they're heroes.

00:57:40.000 Did you ever see the movie? I think it's the age of Ada or...

00:57:47.160 Anybody know what that movie is called?

00:57:48.980 Yeah, I think, I didn't see it, but I think that she stays the same age.

00:57:51.860 Yes.

00:57:52.080 And she realized that she couldn't take the death of all of her friends over and over and over again.

00:58:07.920 You are out of time.

00:58:11.160 Knock on wood, the veterans are going to be out for a long, long time.

00:58:13.520 I know.

00:58:14.440 To be very honest, I try not to think about...

00:58:16.920 It's got to be hard to lose friends all the time. And that last one that goes,

00:58:27.420 that's going to impact you.

00:58:32.160 If I'm very honest, which I'm being, sometimes I hope that I die before the veterans do. 0.93

00:58:40.160 Because I've become extremely, extremely, I mean, not all of them, some particular veterans.

00:58:45.020 You welled up a few minutes ago, and that's what made me think of this.

00:58:49.280 Do you feel them deeply?

00:58:52.940 They're more than just personal heroes. They're more than best friends.

00:58:57.100 It's hard to explain, but I truly sometimes hope that what you just talked about, the veterans passing on,

00:59:07.020 I just hope it doesn't happen. I don't know what to say.

00:59:09.380 I just, I really just hope it just doesn't happen. I don't, some people don't deserve to die,

00:59:14.940 is all I really mean. And I think that they would be good contenders not to, because for everything

00:59:19.620 that they've done for people, I just, there's just so much more for them to give.

00:59:25.760 I know you've already thought of this, but what you just said, some people don't deserve to die.

00:59:35.360 They won't because of you.

00:59:39.720 All of who they were, what they did, all of that would have been lost if it wasn't for you.

00:59:47.560 Well, yeah, I mean, I appreciate you saying that, but it's not the same as, you know, having them there.

00:59:53.000 They're, you know, it's, what I sometimes think about, you know, I'm always on the road,

00:59:59.920 and I've met a lot of couples, you know, just through the grandkids of the veterans

01:00:05.640 and the kids of the veterans.

01:00:08.260 For some reason, a lot of the couples I've met, they're trying to raise a family,

01:00:12.580 but they aren't able to have kids for some reason.

01:00:16.240 They're, you know, one of the spouses infertile or something,

01:00:18.720 but the two people would be some of the best parents,

01:00:21.060 really loving people who really would raise a great family.

01:00:24.560 And then you always hear about it in the news,

01:00:27.480 horrible parents who have a lot of kids and treat them horribly

01:00:30.540 and beat them and kill them in all these horrible different ways. 0.74

01:00:34.380 And you think to yourself, why is that? 1.00

01:00:36.500 Why is it that someone who would be so good to their kids can't have them?

01:00:39.540 And then people who are horrible end up getting them.

01:00:42.920 I mean, same thing about the veterans.

01:00:44.460 Why is it that they would have to die when other bad people get them, you know, just live?

01:00:49.480 I just, I don't know.

01:00:52.380 I just, and I don't think people understand what I'm afraid is happening to the World War II veterans

01:00:58.300 is what happened to the World War I veterans.

01:01:00.680 There wasn't, there was not a major initiative to get the World War I veterans documented.

01:01:06.140 And a lot of that's lost to history.

01:01:08.540 And what I think is, if a Civil War veteran suddenly came up from the grave,

01:01:14.300 all the world's media would be hounding him, begging to do an interview just for five minutes of its time,

01:01:20.120 on their knees using the nicest cameras and the fanciest equipment.

01:01:23.260 And yet we have this opportunity with the World War II veterans who are arguably way cooler than any Civil War veteran.

01:01:30.820 And people are more concerned about using their phone for what the Kardashians are wearing

01:01:35.440 than actually using it as a tool, as it was meant for, to document history.

01:01:39.800 I mean, I'm not the only person who can do this.

01:01:42.620 I mean, anyone can literally take their phone, which has a video camera, or take a video camera,

01:01:47.760 go to a retirement home and document a living piece of history so that 200, 300 years from now,

01:01:53.120 their great, great, great grandkids will get to know what their great, great, great grandpa looked like,

01:01:57.440 the way he talked, the way he laughed, the way he cried, the way he spoke,

01:02:00.400 his little intricate details, not just his name.

01:02:03.800 You know, I don't even know anything about my great, great grandfather.

01:02:06.060 But we have this opportunity to give this gift to the future generations,

01:02:11.060 and people are just sitting there.

01:02:12.920 And it just doesn't make sense to me.

01:02:14.740 My grandfather would not sit for an interview.

01:02:37.240 I asked him.

01:02:38.140 And I think about this often, that all of my life in the last 20 years,

01:02:47.740 my great, great, great grandkids will be able to access and see me,

01:02:57.960 but they're not going to see everybody else.

01:03:00.720 They're not going to see the rest of the family.

01:03:02.540 And I wish I could have done that with my grandfather.

01:03:05.160 I'd love to hear his voice again.

01:03:08.140 How can people help you?

01:03:12.340 Because you're not making money on this.

01:03:15.040 No.

01:03:16.060 Well, I've been really blessed.

01:03:17.880 You know, after the Associated Press did a story about my mission,

01:03:21.260 CBS Sunday Morning did a story.

01:03:23.480 And so I have a nonprofit foundation called Heroes of the Second World War.org.

01:03:28.400 It's all spelled out, H-E-R-O-E-S of the Second World War.org.

01:03:32.640 But I was able to get a lot of oral history grants and a lot of amazing, generous people

01:03:37.960 donated their hard-earned money to some kid so that he could go out and get these heroes documented.

01:03:44.080 So the biggest help really, I mean, and I'm not trying to sound pretentious when I say it, but it's not really about the money.

01:03:51.460 Because the nonprofit, the board of the directors on the nonprofit gives me a stipend every month for food and travel, which is all I need.

01:03:58.280 I don't have a family.

01:03:59.040 I don't have a mortgage.

01:04:00.400 I'm a young guy.

01:04:01.040 That's all I need is just to get to the veterans, the food, travel, camera equipment.

01:04:05.000 So that's taken care of.

01:04:07.260 The biggest thing that I'm trying to do now is find out about other World War II combat veterans and get them interviewed.

01:04:14.520 So how do they, how does somebody has somebody?

01:04:17.180 How do they get a hold of you?

01:04:18.400 Oh, I mean, if they reached out on the website, there's a contact form.

01:04:22.180 It's a herosofthesecondworldwar.org, or they could email herosofthesecondworldwar at gmail.com, or they could call 202-813-0992, and that would get to me.

01:04:37.980 But it's also other people who want to join the organization, because there are volunteers now who I have across the U.S.

01:04:45.300 who are doing interviews in their own local areas, which is great.

01:04:48.720 But, you know, I did the math.

01:04:50.380 If we wanted to interview every single World War II veteran in the world, not just the U.S., but the world, it would take two weeks.

01:04:58.320 Oh, my.

01:04:58.840 How many volunteers would you need?

01:05:00.500 It would just be over 1,000.

01:05:02.780 That's it.

01:05:03.380 You're kidding.

01:05:04.180 Because we have the manpower, the technology, the know-how, the transportation's never been easier.

01:05:08.880 Access to finding out about the veterans has never been easier.

01:05:11.900 I mean, it's all there.

01:05:14.020 But it would take less than two weeks to document an entire generation.

01:05:17.620 And so all I'm asking is that if there's anyone else out there, you know, listening to this, if you want to help make a difference and get these veterans documented, please do reach out at the website, you know, or visit heroesofthesecondworldwar.org.

01:05:32.500 But, I mean, to learn how you can join, because I can't be the only person who's doing it.

01:05:37.300 Everyone can make a difference for these veterans, and they deserve it.

01:05:40.760 And, I mean, but, I mean, obviously, if you know any World War II combat veterans, also do reach out, because I'm always looking to interview more veterans.

01:05:47.900 But I just, just don't wait.

01:05:54.440 You know, I think that's such a, people always think that, like, their father's going to be around forever, you know, but now's the time to do it.

01:06:03.400 You know, we have this opportunity.

01:06:05.840 You know, we shouldn't have to wait for an obituary to find out about the most amazing and heroic people that lived in our community.

01:06:15.180 You know, we should be able to talk to them.

01:06:18.160 We should be able to learn about it while they're still alive, so we can talk to them, look them in their eyes, and thank them, and, you know, interact with them.

01:06:25.760 And I just, there's so many interesting obituaries that you find, you know, as I find, as I'm trying to find the veterans, but there's no interviews of them.

01:06:34.260 And I'm wondering to myself, here, this veteran's been able to live in his 90s and 100s, and no one took the time just to document his story.

01:06:42.120 You know, all those sacrifices and moments of his life have now just been put into three paragraphs.

01:06:52.220 They don't deserve that.

01:06:53.860 I mean, they deserve a voice in our world, in our future world, because I think the best thing that we can do for those 410,000 boys who were killed in the war,

01:07:06.020 and everyone who was killed in the war across the world, is give their death some meaning.

01:07:12.080 Because if we just pretend like that was a long time ago, and it doesn't matter, and we continue to act the way we're acting now,

01:07:19.140 we're literally spitting on the graves of those men.

01:07:21.760 Because it's bad enough that they had to die at 18, 19, 20.

01:07:27.840 You know, the fact that they were born, had the middle of their life, and the end of their life, before they could even drink alcohol.

01:07:34.480 You know, it's a really sobering thought.

01:07:38.200 But, you know, it's bad enough that they had to be killed.

01:07:41.180 But it would be even worse if they were killed for no reason.

01:07:44.320 And I really hope that the veterans who I interview that say that they feel that their friends have died in vain,

01:07:50.320 I really hope that they end up being wrong, and that their friends died for a purpose.

01:07:55.660 Because, I mean, it was just 75 years ago, which is such a short time in the span of humanity.

01:08:03.260 And, I mean, it should still be relevant and raw.

01:08:07.160 I mean, I just don't understand why people don't talk more about it.

01:08:11.220 It is wonderful to talk to you.

01:08:12.620 Thank you for taking the time.

01:08:13.860 You bet, thank you.

01:08:14.600 I really appreciate it.

01:08:21.740 Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast,

01:08:26.280 and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people.

01:08:43.860 Thank you.

01:08:45.600 Thank you.

01:08:46.000 Thank you.

01:08:58.160 Thank you.

The Glenn Beck Program - November 10, 2018

Ep 10 ｜ Rishi Sharma ｜ The Glenn Beck Podcast

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