WESTBROOK – Morgan Rielly has shown an interest in history since he was just 5 years old, when he met a neighbor and World War II veteran with an amputated arm and asked his father to explain.

Now, some 13 years later, the Westbrook High School senior is about to release his first book on the subject, “Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons Learned from Maine’s Greatest Generation,” which tells the stories of 26 World War II veterans from all over the state.

Rielly, who is also one of two student representatives to the City Council, is provided a small office in the Westbrook High School library, where he spoke Monday about the book, and the long process toward its completion this year.

When he was in eighth grade, Rielly conducted his first interview of a World War II veteran for a class assignment, and quickly became enthralled in interviewing more Maine veterans of the World War II era, some of whom had never shared their stories.

“Some said, ‘No one besides you has ever really listened to me,’” he said, adding that he was also inspired by an old African proverb that states, “When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.”

Rielly said that following the first few interviews, while he was still in his freshman year, he set a goal to write a book, and looked toward finding as many Maine World War II veterans to interview as he could.

He contacted many of the local veterans through the Westbrook Historical Society, veterans homes and state veteran groups. He said that as the interviews moved along, some veterans who were interested in telling their story also contacted him.

“There’s definitely a wide array of veterans from all over the state,” he said.

He also found veterans in more unconventional ways.

“I had read a book that was a memoir of a member of the 82nd Airborne, and I wrote to him, asking if he knew any veterans in Maine,” Rielly said. “I got a call from a veteran in Machias who had served with him.”

Although he remembers each interview fondly, Rielly said, the story of Bernard Cheney of Machias stayed with him in particular because of Cheney’s enduring positive attitude in the face of major heartache. Rielly said Cheney saw the entire war in Europe, and also suffered the loss of his wife and daughter later in life.

“He told me that having a positive attitude is what keeps people healthy,” Rielly said.

Brendan Rielly, Morgan’s father, said Tuesday that he and Morgan’s mother, Erica, could not be more proud of their son, not only for working hard toward completing a book, but also because they have literally seen him grow up while researching and conducting the interviews.

“We’re almost too proud for words,” he said. “This was really his project, and was his idea back as an eighth-grader. He’s put in a tremendous amount of time, and all between soccer practices, homework, and everything else.”

Brendan Rielly, who is also the president of the Westbrook City Council, said he and Morgan’s mother saw first hand the interactions between Morgan and the veterans, as they drove him to interviews before he had a driver’s license.

“It was a real growing experience, for Morgan and for us,” he said. “To hear these men and women who were so humble, and who had lived good lives, open up to Morgan, we watched him grow up.”

For each interview, Rielly said, he had about three hours of tape that served as the basis of his writing, which also included follow-up interviews. He found a theme in each veteran’s story, and that provided a way to organize the chapters.

Brendan Rielly said Tuesday that he was floored while listening to his son speak with veterans, and at such a young age, could talk with them about specific details of the war.

“He could sit there and talk about dates and battles and divisions and regiments, and I had no idea what they were talking about,” he said laughing.

At the start of his junior year, Rielly had already finished the book and began sending the manuscript to various publishing companies. Rielly signed a contract last year with Down East Books, which recently became a subsidiary of Rowman-Littlefield.

Sam Caggiula, of Rowman-Littlefield, said in an email Tuesday that, “For me, as an Army veteran and parent myself, I’m just proud of Morgan and proud to be working on his book.”

Rielly is the salutatorian and president of his class, and has been involved in multiple extracurricular activites such as tennis and soccer, as well as National Honor Society, Key Club, and Spanish Club. He is also president of the Student Council.

Rielly will graduate from Westbrook High School in June and plans to study history in college, though he hasn’t decided yet which school he will attend. He said he’d eventually like to obtain a doctorate in the subject, and would also like to form a traveling school that could bring together students from multiple nationalities to study history.

“Ever since I was little, I wanted to learn as much as I could about the past, and I still read anything I can get my hands on,” he said. “I would love to write more books in the future, and I have a long list of subjects and ideas I’d write books on.”

Although some of his featured veterans have since died, the others, along with their families, have been invited to a book release party this Saturday at the Westbrook Community Center, and they will be signing copies of the book.

“They definitely deserve the recognition,” Rielly said.

In the coming months, Rielly will also be going to the Book Expo America conference in New York City, where he’ll be doing book signings, as well as speaking at a Mensa Conference in Boston in July.

While Rielly’s book refers to the veterans as being from Maine’s “greatest generation,” he said Cheney, who has since died, also remained optimistic that the world’s young people will accomplish great things. Reading from the book, Rielly quotes Cheney’s words:

“People say this is a hell of a world to bring kids in, but I feel just the opposite. Think of all the things that are going to happen to them. You think, boy, I hope they have as much interesting things happen to them as I did.”

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A CLOSER LOOK

A book release party for “Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons Learned from Maine’s Greatest Generation,” by Morgan Rielly, will be held Saturday, May 17, from 2-4:30 p.m., at the Westbrook Community Center.

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Morgan Rielly, 18, thumbs through a copy of his newly published book, “Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons Learned from Maine’s Greatest Generation.”