By Brittany Herring

Lee Compton is a 78 year old man. He grew up across from the Rome Chapel on the Mount Baker highway. He was born on April 18, 1930. This is what it was like for him growing up during World War II.

Brittany: What was your reaction to Pearl Harbor?

Lee: Well. Pearl Harbor. That was 1941. I was 11 years old. So…uh…Unbelief. I couldn’t believe that somebody would do anything like that. I learned later on that they could do a lot worse than that.

Brittany: How did the war affect your school life and relationships with people?

Lee: To school life?

Brittany: Yeah.

Lee: At that time we had more prayer for the country. We had more patriotism. And… uh… More togetherness then we had before.

Brittany: What is your opinion on the dropping of the Atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Lee: Nagasaki?

Brittany: Yeah.

Lee: It… uh… I believe that God used that to spare what would have happened. And there would have been a lot more people killed in the fighting. If you knew how the Asian people fight. That... uh… There would have been many, many more casualties through out the world. If they hadn’t used the bombs.

Brittany: What is your most lasting memory of World War II?

Lee: I guess… uh… That would be when. First off when the Germans gave up. And… uh… Victory in Europe. And then after the two bombs fell, it was almost immediately that Japan gave up. So yeah… those two things.