Remains of North Dakota World War II Veteran Officially Identified

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BISMARCK, N.D. - The Pentagon announced it identified the remains of North Dakotan U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson, 80 years after his aircraft was shot down during a combat mission to Tokyo, Japan. While Ellingson survived the crash, he was held as a prisoner of war and perished in the Tokyo Military Prison during a fire.

Near the end of World War II, 62 American service members were held captive in Tokyo. Ellingson served as a radar observer aboard a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" bomber assigned to 878th Bombardment Squadron, 499th Bombardment Group.

Ellingson will be buried in his hometown, Dahlen, N.D., on June 20.

"Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson gave his life in World War II fighting for our freedom, obviously as Americans, but really for the freedom of the world," said U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND). "It was such an incredible time in our history, and after all these years, 80 years nearly, he's finally returning home. It's heartwarming and it's cause for gratitude for his family's tireless work in identifying his remains. I just pray this gives them some closure, but more importantly even than closure at this point is that they're able to bring him home and then to celebrate the incredible life and sacrifice of their hero, of our hero. His sacrifice is similar to the many, many that were made by so many people during World War II. We can't ever forget any of them, but Irvin's courage really reminds us of the extraordinary prices paid for by the Greatest Generation for our liberties. It's why their legacies are going to endure forever, and it's to be modeled, it's to be emulated, it's to be celebrated, it's to be grateful for."

U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said Ellingson's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Honolulu. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he is now accounted for.

In 2021, Cramer and his Senate colleagues sent a letter requesting then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin allow the DPAA to proceed with disinterment of American service members who died in the 1945 Tokyo military prison fire and were buried as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.