[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15705]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       CELEBRATING THE LIVES OF BEN KUROKI AND SUSUMU ``SUS'' ITO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Hawaii (Mr. Takai) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TAKAI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the lives of two 
trailblazers for the Asian American community, Ben Kuroki and Susumu 
``Sus'' Ito.
  After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kuroki and his brother were one of 
the first Japanese Americans to enlist in the United States Air Force 
during World War II at a time when over 100,000 other Japanese 
Americans were forced into incarceration camps without due process 
under the law.
  The need for aerial gunners was high; so, Kuroki applied for the job, 
was approved, and was sent to a 2-week course in Britain. Kuroki 
received on-the-job training. His maiden flight was on December 13, 
1942.
  During this time of heavy discrimination against Japanese Americans, 
Kuroki's flight crew was instrumental in protecting him from the sneers 
and abuse by his fellow soldiers.
  Kuroki received three Distinguished Flying Cross medals for 
volunteering to fly 25 combat missions against Germany and 28 missions 
in the Pacific. He was the only Japanese American to serve as an aerial 
gunner in the Asia-Pacific theater during World War II.
  The son of Japanese immigrant farmers, Kuroki was born on May 16, 
1917, in Gaithersburg, Nebraska.
  After his many missions in Europe, Kuroki visited other Japanese 
Americans behind barbed wire to promote the military and asked other 
Japanese Americans to join what would soon become the 442nd Regimental 
Combat Team of the 100th Infantry Battalion.
  Ben Kuroki exemplified the embodiment of patriotism and service above 
self. He often said, ``I had to fight for the right to fight for my own 
country, and now I feel vindication.''
  Today I rise to share Ben Kuroki's tremendous accomplishments and 
dedicated public service with the House of Representatives. Ben Kuroki 
was the definition of an American hero.
  I would also like to take this time to recognize another 
extraordinary trailblazer for the Japanese American community, Susumu 
``Sus'' Ito.
  Ito, the oldest and only son of Japanese immigrants, was drafted into 
the military in 1940. After Pearl Harbor, his parents and his sister 
were sent to the incarceration camp in Rohwer, Arkansas. During this 
time, he volunteered to become a forward observer for the 442nd 
Infantry Battalion, one of the most dangerous positions in the 
battalion.
  Known as mischievous, he brought with him to Europe an Agfa Memo, a 
contraband 35-millimeter camera that fit right in the palm of his hand. 
Ito spent his deployment in Europe, starting in 1944 until the war 
ended, taking pictures of his surroundings.
  From playing chess during downtime to posing with the Colosseum 
during their trek into Rome, he spent the war revealing the daily lives 
of this little known mostly Japanese American unit.
  However, many of Ito's pictures also accurately depicted the 
brazenness of war. The 442nd was one of the first battalions to reach 
the Dachau Concentration Camp, and Ito took pictures of dazed prisoners 
leaving the camp for the very first time. He also captured the despair 
of his fellow soldiers as they rescued the Lost Battalion.
  After World War II and through the GI Bill, he started an 
extraordinary career as a cellular biologist and became a researcher 
and professor at Harvard Medical School, where he worked for over 50 
years.
  Ito donated his vast collection, thousands of images, to the Japanese 
American Museum in Los Angeles, as part of their Before They Were 
Heroes: Sus Ito's World War II Images collection.
  In August, I had the opportunity to tour this exhibit. The images he 
captured constantly reminded me of the courage of our Japanese American 
GIs who fought valiantly for our country while their families remained 
behind barbed wire.
  Today I rise to share Sus Ito's tremendous accomplishments and 
dedicated public service with the House of Representatives.

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