18-year-old Ashley High School student has interviewed over 50 veterans

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With Veterans Day approaching, an Ashley High School student has been showing his appreciation for veterans in the best way he knows how; by interviewing them.

“You find out a lot of the truth too, like you find out what actually happened during said battle or said event or whatever,” said 18-year-old Luke Basso.

Documenting history and recording it for others to learn about it is a driving passion for Basso. In the past three years, he’s has interviewed more than 50 veterans; most of which served during World War II.

And his reason why?

“Well, they’ve done a lot for our country, and our allies too. Especially the World War II Veterans. My main goal is to have as many World War II and Korean War Veterans is because there’s barely any left.”

Basso started a YouTube channel in 2022 called Filmperia, but he has been collecting historical artifacts  including war medals, autographs and war guns even longer.

Getting a veteran to open up about their past Basso says can sometimes be a challenge.

“I’ve realized a lot of them need to gain your trust first to tell their stories. When it comes to like one of the more public figure one’s or the one’s who do public speaking or have done past work before, they’ll talk about it. The one’s who like, some random Vietnam Veteran, he’s not going to open up to you immediately.”

But many veterans later tell Basso they’re appreciative of his interest in their stories and his passion for sharing what he’s learned with others.

“Our country isn’t perfect but, it’s a great country and our veterans have done a lot to preserve our freedom and our allies freedom. A lot of people don’t talk about our allies and they should be recognized more too”

Recognizing the service and sacrifice of U.S. military veterans Basso said is a way we can all honor these men and women.

If any veterans are interested in speaking with Luke, you can email him here – Lukeb.filmperia@gmail.com