Oral history interview with Alfred Kaneo Dote, 2012 June 25.

Alfred Kaneo Dote's parents were from Hiroshima, but he was born in Sacramento in 1928 and lived there until he was 8, when he moved to Japan with his brothers and mother. He discusses his experiences in school and working in a factory in Japan after the war with the US began. He was at school when...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Uniform Title:Naoko Wake Collection of Oral Histories of US Survivors, Families, and Supporters.
Other Authors: Dote, Alfred Kaneo, 1928- (Interviewee)
Wake, Naoko (Interviewer)
Language:Japanese
Language and/or Writing System:
In Japanese.
Series:Naoko Wake Collection of Oral Histories of US Survivors, Families, and Supporters.
Subjects:
Genre:
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (1 audio file (1 hr., 37 min., 29 sec.))
Format: Electronic Audio Software
Description
Summary:
Alfred Kaneo Dote's parents were from Hiroshima, but he was born in Sacramento in 1928 and lived there until he was 8, when he moved to Japan with his brothers and mother. He discusses his experiences in school and working in a factory in Japan after the war with the US began. He was at school when the bombing occurred, and he describes the dead bodies and other horrible sights he witnessed in the aftermath. His younger brother's face was burned, and he discusses treating it with oil because there were no hospitals to take him to. One of his older sisters died in the bombing; he shares the experience of going to collect her body. After the war, in 1948, he was in touch with his uncle, who was in the US during the war and had been interned at the Tule Lake internment camp; this uncle helped him return to the US. He was a "school boy" for two years in Oakland and San Francisco, and then he served in the Korean War, during which he met his wife in Sendai; they were married in 1955. His friend Kuramoto became the head of a hibakusha club, which Alfred attended with his wife. He talks about attending the meetings and his feelings concerning the lack of support from the US government for hibakusha.
Note:Recorded as a source material of American survivors: Trans-Pacific memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a trans-Pacific history of the 1945 atomic bombings authored by MSU historian Naoko Wake.
Call Number:Voice 45676
Playing Time:01:37:29
Event Details:
Recorded 2012 June 25