Susumu "Sus" Ito was a noted cell biologist and war hero.
He was born in Stockton, California, on July 27, 1919, the oldest of three children of Japanese immigrants Sohei Ito and Hisayo Watanabe Ito.
He was attending auto mechanic school when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1940, two years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Army, he initially worked as a mechanic but was eventually assigned to the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, a part of the all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit for its size in the U.S. Army during World War II.
An artillery spotter, Ito eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant. He participated in the famous rescue of the "Lost Battalion," a unit of the 36th Texas Division which had been cut off and surrounded by the Germans. Though the 442nd suffered extremely heavy casualties in the engagement, Ito emerged unscathed. His unit, the 552nd Field Artillery, later liberated a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp.
During his Army service in Europe, Ito took thousands of photographs with his Agfa 35-mm camera. Some of those photographs were featured in an exhibit, "Before They Were Heroes: Sus Ito's World War II Images", at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from July 14 through September 6, 2015.
After the war, Ito attended what later became Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on the G.I. Bill. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in Biology from Cornell University and became a professor at the Harvard Medical School Anatomy Department in 1961. At Harvard, his research centered on ultrastructural electron microscopic studies of the gastrointestinal system. In the early 1980s, he and William Silen showed that repair of the mucosal lining of the stomach (“gastric mucosal restitution”) is a far more rapid process than previously thought possible. Ito retired from Harvard Medical School in 1990 but remained active in the lab as of 2010.
On October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian U.S. medal (along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom), to the members of the 442nd Regiment and other units for the rescue of the Lost Battalion. Ito was among the veterans who received the medal and attended the White House ceremony.
Susumu Ito was interviewed about his experience in WWII in the American Heroes Channel (AHC) show "What History Forgot" Season 2 Episode 3 - Fighting for Freedom.
He was among five Japanese American World War II veterans who rode on the City of Alhambra's "Go For Broke" float in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ito died of natural causes at the age of 96 on September 29, 2015 at his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. His wife, the former Minnie Tsuji, whom he married in 1948, predeceased him in 2012. He is survived by daughters Linda Ito-Adler and Celia Doe, and son Bruce. His son Daniel died in 2007.
He was born in Stockton, California, on July 27, 1919, the oldest of three children of Japanese immigrants Sohei Ito and Hisayo Watanabe Ito.
He was attending auto mechanic school when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1940, two years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Army, he initially worked as a mechanic but was eventually assigned to the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, a part of the all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit for its size in the U.S. Army during World War II.
An artillery spotter, Ito eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant. He participated in the famous rescue of the "Lost Battalion," a unit of the 36th Texas Division which had been cut off and surrounded by the Germans. Though the 442nd suffered extremely heavy casualties in the engagement, Ito emerged unscathed. His unit, the 552nd Field Artillery, later liberated a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp.
During his Army service in Europe, Ito took thousands of photographs with his Agfa 35-mm camera. Some of those photographs were featured in an exhibit, "Before They Were Heroes: Sus Ito's World War II Images", at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from July 14 through September 6, 2015.
After the war, Ito attended what later became Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on the G.I. Bill. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in Biology from Cornell University and became a professor at the Harvard Medical School Anatomy Department in 1961. At Harvard, his research centered on ultrastructural electron microscopic studies of the gastrointestinal system. In the early 1980s, he and William Silen showed that repair of the mucosal lining of the stomach (“gastric mucosal restitution”) is a far more rapid process than previously thought possible. Ito retired from Harvard Medical School in 1990 but remained active in the lab as of 2010.
On October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian U.S. medal (along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom), to the members of the 442nd Regiment and other units for the rescue of the Lost Battalion. Ito was among the veterans who received the medal and attended the White House ceremony.
Susumu Ito was interviewed about his experience in WWII in the American Heroes Channel (AHC) show "What History Forgot" Season 2 Episode 3 - Fighting for Freedom.
He was among five Japanese American World War II veterans who rode on the City of Alhambra's "Go For Broke" float in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ito died of natural causes at the age of 96 on September 29, 2015 at his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. His wife, the former Minnie Tsuji, whom he married in 1948, predeceased him in 2012. He is survived by daughters Linda Ito-Adler and Celia Doe, and son Bruce. His son Daniel died in 2007.
Susumu "Sus" Ito was a noted cell biologist and war hero.
He was born in Stockton, California, on July 27, 1919, the oldest of three children of Japanese immigrants Sohei Ito and Hisayo Watanabe Ito.
He was attending auto mechanic school when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1940, two years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Army, he initially worked as a mechanic but was eventually assigned to the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, a part of the all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit for its size in the U.S. Army during World War II.
An artillery spotter, Ito eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant. He participated in the famous rescue of the "Lost Battalion," a unit of the 36th Texas Division which had been cut off and surrounded by the Germans. Though the 442nd suffered extremely heavy casualties in the engagement, Ito emerged unscathed. His unit, the 552nd Field Artillery, later liberated a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp.
During his Army service in Europe, Ito took thousands of photographs with his Agfa 35-mm camera. Some of those photographs were featured in an exhibit, "Before They Were Heroes: Sus Ito's World War II Images", at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from July 14 through September 6, 2015.
After the war, Ito attended what later became Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on the G.I. Bill. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in Biology from Cornell University and became a professor at the Harvard Medical School Anatomy Department in 1961. At Harvard, his research centered on ultrastructural electron microscopic studies of the gastrointestinal system. In the early 1980s, he and William Silen showed that repair of the mucosal lining of the stomach (“gastric mucosal restitution”) is a far more rapid process than previously thought possible. Ito retired from Harvard Medical School in 1990 but remained active in the lab as of 2010.
On October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian U.S. medal (along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom), to the members of the 442nd Regiment and other units for the rescue of the Lost Battalion. Ito was among the veterans who received the medal and attended the White House ceremony.
Susumu Ito was interviewed about his experience in WWII in the American Heroes Channel (AHC) show "What History Forgot" Season 2 Episode 3 - Fighting for Freedom.
He was among five Japanese American World War II veterans who rode on the City of Alhambra's "Go For Broke" float in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ito died of natural causes at the age of 96 on September 29, 2015 at his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. His wife, the former Minnie Tsuji, whom he married in 1948, predeceased him in 2012. He is survived by daughters Linda Ito-Adler and Celia Doe, and son Bruce. His son Daniel died in 2007.
He was born in Stockton, California, on July 27, 1919, the oldest of three children of Japanese immigrants Sohei Ito and Hisayo Watanabe Ito.
He was attending auto mechanic school when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1940, two years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Army, he initially worked as a mechanic but was eventually assigned to the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, a part of the all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit for its size in the U.S. Army during World War II.
An artillery spotter, Ito eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant. He participated in the famous rescue of the "Lost Battalion," a unit of the 36th Texas Division which had been cut off and surrounded by the Germans. Though the 442nd suffered extremely heavy casualties in the engagement, Ito emerged unscathed. His unit, the 552nd Field Artillery, later liberated a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp.
During his Army service in Europe, Ito took thousands of photographs with his Agfa 35-mm camera. Some of those photographs were featured in an exhibit, "Before They Were Heroes: Sus Ito's World War II Images", at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from July 14 through September 6, 2015.
After the war, Ito attended what later became Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on the G.I. Bill. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in Biology from Cornell University and became a professor at the Harvard Medical School Anatomy Department in 1961. At Harvard, his research centered on ultrastructural electron microscopic studies of the gastrointestinal system. In the early 1980s, he and William Silen showed that repair of the mucosal lining of the stomach (“gastric mucosal restitution”) is a far more rapid process than previously thought possible. Ito retired from Harvard Medical School in 1990 but remained active in the lab as of 2010.
On October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian U.S. medal (along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom), to the members of the 442nd Regiment and other units for the rescue of the Lost Battalion. Ito was among the veterans who received the medal and attended the White House ceremony.
Susumu Ito was interviewed about his experience in WWII in the American Heroes Channel (AHC) show "What History Forgot" Season 2 Episode 3 - Fighting for Freedom.
He was among five Japanese American World War II veterans who rode on the City of Alhambra's "Go For Broke" float in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ito died of natural causes at the age of 96 on September 29, 2015 at his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. His wife, the former Minnie Tsuji, whom he married in 1948, predeceased him in 2012. He is survived by daughters Linda Ito-Adler and Celia Doe, and son Bruce. His son Daniel died in 2007.
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