It’s not something a lot of World War II veterans talk about. Many don’t care to share their war stories. But Sharon Nicholson not only got many of these local heroes to talk about their experiences, she managed to put them all together in a book.

Nicholson is the author of “Their Place in History, An Anthology of WWII Autobiographies.” She, along with two of the veterans featured in the book, will appear Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Wind and Tide Bookshop in Oak Harbor.

“Some of them really had amazing experiences, but they came back home, married their high school sweethearts and went on with their lives,” Nicholson said. “I kind of consider these legacies for the family, especially those who have no idea what their uncle did, what their father did.”

Nicholson said many of those featured in the book, which is a collection of 20 autobiographies, are familiar Whidbey Island names, like Zylstra, Carter, Koetje, Ferrier.

“All these stories to me are just fascinating,” Nicholson, who is a retired teacher. “To me, that’s the way to teach history — from the primary sources.”

This is the second edition of Nicholson’s book. She said she spent a couple of years writing it, going back to her subjects five or six times, building a relationship with them, making them feel comfortable telling her their stories — essentially writing them together.

“If they had something written up, we gleaned from it the best of it and that gave me some clues as to the scenario that I could go back and research,” she said. “And some of them just started talking; it just starts coming up and you have to sometimes rearrange it in some kind of order.”

Nicholson, who is currently working on a second book, said it’s appropriate for anyone in high school and older, and can teach a lot of lessons about character and integrity.

“I firmly believe that history repeats itself. We need to learn something from that,” she said. “This book illustrates human character, so readers can come to the conclusion by themselves about how much character and integrity it took to do what they did.

“These guys are a blessing to me,” Nicholson continued. “To be able to get these stories out is also a blessing to our country because there aren’t very many of them left.”

Meet the Author:

Sharon Nicholson, along with two of her subjects, Harry Ferrier and Harold Johnson, will speak at the Wind and Tide Bookshop Saturday at 1 p.m.