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

Files

Dublin Core

Description

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.

Format

video/m4v

Extent

0:28:57

Language

Identifier

2003OH0390_02_Arakaki

Oral History Item Type Metadata

URL

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

Date of Birth

1924 Jun 21

Location of Birth

War or Conflict

Branch of Service

Entrance into Service

Nickname

Location of Basic Training

Index

Yes

Citation

Arakaki, Alfred: narrator et al., “Alfred "Nori" Arakaki oral history interview, part 2 of 5, September 28, 2003,” Japanese American Military History Collective, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ndajams.omeka.net/items/show/1049937.