Seventy-eight-year-old Joyce Becker was nine years old on this horrific day. Becker remembers sitting on a sitting on a swing thinking it was the end of the world.
“I remember rationing over flour, sugar, and coffee,” said Becker. Although at the time that was to the extent that she was affected.
However Becker had an eye opening experience that changed her outlook on this event.
“It has really affected me now since I have seen the memorial and watched Japanese people get on the ships and laugh; it was very upsetting. The Americans were in agony, and the Japanese were laughing.”
For the people that were not alive during Pearl Harbor, the only knowledge they have is taught through school rather than experience like Becker.
“I don’t think people think about it as much as they used to so it doesn’t come up as much,” said senior Alex Engleman.
Although this is not a recent event, the United States still has a day to honor Pearl Harbor.
Becker continued by saying that the memorials held every year keep this memory in the forefront of Americans.
Junior Parker Lyons sees this event fading out yet recognizes the importance.
“I think it weighs a lot with the generation before ours, but I will say that its importance and weight is fading as time goes by and more kids don’t take interest in our history as a nation.”
Even if the memories fade, the scar with always remain for America.
Lyons added, “With the loss of life of that magnitude there will always be a portion of America that will honor it.”