Alfred "Nori" Arakaki oral history interview, part 2 of 5, September 28, 2003

Arakaki talks about visiting Japan as a toddler and remembering how poor his family was while living there, often only having a slice of bread for lunch. The family would move back to Hawaii to escape that, and would have much more opportunity and food there. He would work hard, raising the pigs and picking up garbage early in the morning before walking to school, so when he heard about recruiting for the 442nd, he was one of the first to volunteer. He would be inducted into the Army and head to Schofield Barracks and then make his way to Camp Shelby in Mississippi. He talks about the experiences he had while in Camp Shelby, including the food, fighting between the Hawaiian and mainland soldiers, and seeing segregation of African Americans. After this, he talks about his reaction to hearing about American concentration camps for Japanese and more about his basic training. He would then be shipped overseas, first landing in Casablanca, and then heading up to Europe.

video/m4v

0:28:57

2003OH0390_02_Arakaki

http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/390-Arakaki-Alfred-2.m4v

1924 Jun 21

Yes