Telling heroes’ tales
Rishi Sharma, 18, hopes to interview WWII veterans in Santa Clarita
CAMARILLO — Two men sit facing each other in a tidy but small Camarillo house. One has smooth skin, long dark hair bound in a ponytail and sits comfortably on one leg, leaning forward to catch every word of the man he faces. He is 18 years old.
The other man is 91. His white hair is cut in a short military style, and deep coughs occasionally shake his whole body as his red-rimmed blue eyes take in the young form in front of him.
His eyes brighten and his voice becoming gruffer when the questions begin. Frank Zalusky, who lives in the Camarillo house, was put in touch with Rishi Sharma, the young man in front of him, by a neighbor who knew Zalusky was a World War II veteran.
Documenting the histories of “the Greatest Generation” is Sharma’s
passion.
An Agoura resident and recent high school graduate, Sharma smiles and talks in an exaggerated volume to explain his questions to the older man.
Zalusky, a WWII combat veteran, rubs his thumb over the tops of his fingers in a repetitive motion that seems like an old reflex. His motorized chair whirrs as he positions himself in front of the camera and calls up a smile so future generations will remember him with a slight grin on his face.
When he’s done with the four- to six-hours-long interview, Sharma will burn the recording to a DVD and present it to Zalusky’s family. He won’t send it to the Library of Congress for cataloguing, he won’t post it to YouTube, and he won’t make a dime on his efforts.
Sharma says he’s recording veterans’ stories to create a “living obituary” and to immortalize the men who fought for their country during World War II.
“This has no commercial purpose,” he said in an interview with The Signal. “I’m honored just to talk to them.”
Over and over again, he thanks Zalusky for giving up his time for the interview.
“All I can say is that these are my kindred spirits,” Sharma said of the veterans. “A lot of what I am doing is so that I can learn and understand what they are going through.”
Today only 855,070 veterans of the 16 million who served in World War II are still alive, and 650 die each day.
Sharma’s mission
Sharma founded an organization called “Heroes of the Second World War” with the goal of recording as many World War II veterans’ stories as possible. So far, “Heroes of the Second World War” is an organization consisting of one person — Sharma — but his goal is to create core teams of interviewers to join him.
Ideally, Sharma says, these teams would include World War II historians, researchers, filmmakers, authors, professors, history buffs and redactors who could bring the knowledge and passion needed to make the interviews great.
Sharma says he’s always been fascinated with World War II and sees its veterans as his heroes.
“Now I have come to the age where I can actually do something for these heroes,” the 18-year-old Agoura man said. “I am just here to be of service to World War II vets themselves.”
He had done about 20 interviews when he sat down to record Zalusky’s memories in Camarillo earlier this month. He’s looking for some Santa Clarita Valley veterans of World War II whom he can talk to, as well.
Zalusky
The 91-year-old veteran told Sharma the war was a large part of his life. His father and two brothers volunteered, and as soon as he was old enough, Zalusky volunteered as well.
“Everyone had to go,” the old man said.
“It was not a big deal,” he added, eyebrows raised as if he couldn’t believe anyone wouldn’t understand the duty to serve country above all.
Zalusky was hospitalized for two years with a severe injury due to a bomb. After he got out, he said, he wanted to make sure those soldiers hospitalized like he was were not forgotten.
He joined an organization that took hospitalized soldiers out to restaurants or pristine lakesides to get away from veterans hospitals for a while.
He held up newspaper clippings during Sharma’s interview, proudly pointing to the wounded soldiers taken on excursions. “See, these show that they really did enjoy it.”
Clocks ticked in the background of the suburban Camarillo home as Sharma’s recording equipment silently took in the interview.
At one point Zalusky summed up his war experience with: “I don’t know, we just lived.”
Sharma is seeking Santa Clarita Valley residents who know, or who are, World War II veterans so he may record the veterans’ stories.
Contact him by visiting www. heroesofthesecondworldwar.org or calling 818735-0181. He has a GoFundMe page for raising money for travel at gofundme.com/ww2heroes.