The WILDCAT News
Holton Middle School Newspaper
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Author: Ashlynn Chermok, 8th grade HMS student
Edition 6 pg 8 & 9
The Press Journalism class interviewed elders at the Vintage Park Assisted Living Home. I, Ashlynn Chermok, had the opportunity to interview Marjorie. When asked about the historical event that she had lived through, she spoke of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and her experiences living through the war that followed.
When Marjorie was seven or eight years old, on a Sunday afternoon while her folks were playing cards, her dad spoke up and told them to listen to the radio. Shortly afterwards, her father spoke up again, saying that they were at war.
Marjorie described life as fearful and worried. She and her parents constantly worried that maybe someday soon, someone would invade America and take over. At school there were metal drives, and they would collect coins and other metal for the military to make bombs and other weapons to fight the current war. Gasoline and sugar were of short supply because most of it had gone to the military. Because of the shortage, there was a card they had to use to get just so much gas, and another card to get just so much sugar and other everyday supplies.
Marjorie explained how her family were all worried for each other. All her uncles and cousins were leaving to fight the war, being drafted because they needed more soldiers. Everyone was concerned for their families. Marjorie’s dad stayed because he was a farmer, and he had to provide food for the military and then soldiers who were fighting.
Marjorie said that the war following the Bombing of Pearl Harbor made her realize how important her freedom was. It made her think how she didn’t realize what exactly it was until the war came and limited her freedom. She realized what she’d taken for granted before and how simple things really do make a difference in your everyday lives. She thought more of how important the military is.
The soldiers who fought for America and our freedom, America and its people. The soldiers became protectors, they were there to keep us safe. After the war, Marjorie had thought of how important the military and the soldiers are. how they risk their lives to keep their country and its people safe. Without living through something like this, people wouldn’t understand how worried everyone was, especially the children. Marjorie explained how the kids were just as worried as the adults. The thought of someone coming into your country and taking over, telling everyone what to do worried everyone. It’s a scary thing to think of, and you wouldn’t fully understand without living it yourself.