can you really remember details from 5 years ago?

Ms. U, from the Ukraine, was denied asylum for these reasons:
1. she said she was arrested on "Saturday, October 19, 2003." But, a calendar shows that October 19th was a Sunday. [Ms. U should have said, "I was arrested in mid-October, 2003.]
2. she said, orally, at the interview, that she first contacted Mr. D via telephone. However, in her written application she said it was by letter. [Ms. U should have said, "I contacted Mr. D. He gave me info about X. I later contacted him, again, several times."]
3. she added many details in her oral testimony, which were not written down in her application. [Ms. U should have written: "There are many more details to my story. I was advised to keep this short. I will add more details later."]