A07U, Maria Roe ‘85, Yoshie Spangler, c 1940, Daniel Abe, c 1940, Hyōgo, Chiba, Family friends
I’ve collected some comments on World War II and the American Occupation, from friends of my mother. They were both too busy for full interviews, so I talked to two different people in May 1984. They are both in their mid-forties now.
Yoshie Spangler is a Japanese woman who married an American in the U.S. Navy:
Q: Where were you living during the Occupation?
A: I was a young child, so I don’t remember too much, but I was living in Kōbe, I think.
Q: Do you have any clear memories?
A: No, I don’t. My mother told me that we moved to the countryside to escape the cities.
Q: Where did you move?
A: Somewhere in Kyūshū.
Daniel Abe is my mother’s boss:
Q: What do you remember about the war or the Occupation?
A: I remember that my family was living in Tōkyō at the time of the bombings.
Q: Did they stay in Tōkyō?
A: No, they moved away to Chiba.
Q: Why did you have to move?
A: To escape from the bombings in Tōkyō.