World War II
-
MIA
POW
Fallen
Dahlen, ND
Circumstances:
Died while in MIA status.
From DPAA website:
On April 13, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress (serial number 42-24644) with a crew of eleven men took off from Saipan, Marianas Islands, on a combat mission against enemy targets in Tokyo, Japan. During the mission, the Superfortress was shot down by Japanese fighter aircraft and crashed at Chiba Prefecture, Honshu, Japan. All eleven crew members reportedly bailed out of the aircraft, but five crew members were killed in the incident. Of the six survivors of this crash, one crew member was able to escape and return to allied lines, while five crew members were captured by Japanese forces. One crew member died shortly after being captured, and the other four were eventually taken to the Tokyo Military Prison. The prison was hit during air raids on May 25-26, 1945. More than seventy Allied soldiers died during this attack because guards would not allow prisoners to seek safety outside their locked structures. The four crew members from the B-29 died in a prison fire caused by the raids, and the remains of only one of the crew could be identified after the incident. Attempts to identify the remains of the three others who died in the fire were unsuccessful.
Staff Sergeant Irvin C. Ellingson entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from North Dakota and served with the 878th Bombardment Squadron, 499th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy). He was the radar observer on board this B-29, and was one of the survivors of the crash who died at the Tokyo Military Prison. He was not identified among remains recovered from the prison after the fire and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Staff Sergeant Ellingson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.
Biography:
Bio provided by Irvin's family
Irvin Ellingson was born on January 5, 1920 to Tommy (T.B.) and Ella Ellingson, living one mile north of Dahlen, ND, on the home farm. He had two sisters and five brothers. He attended grade and high school in Dahlen and graduated in 1936 as class salutatorian.
Irvin attended Mayville State College from 1937-39. He also worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps, an enumerator for the 1940 census (Dahlen township) and Solar Aircraft in San Diego, California as well as working on the home farm.
He enlisted in the US Army Air Forces in December 1942 and was sent to Sheppard Field in Texas for Basic Training. He then went to Chicago, Illinois and trained as a Radio Operator and Mechanic.
He did further training throughout 1943 and 1944 in Boca Raton and Panama City, Florida as well as Salina and Herington, Kansas. He departed for Saipan on November 10, 1944.
Irvin flew several missions over Tokyo on a B29 serving as a Radar Observer. On April 14, 1945 his plane was shot down over Tokyo. He parachuted to safety but was captured by the Japanese Army and brought to a POW camp called the Tokyo Military Prison.
It was there that he died, along with 61 American Airman, when the wooden structure of the Tokyo Military Prison burned down on May 26, 1945 due to winds that fueled the fire from the US low level, incendiary bombing campaign over Tokyo.
Irvin’s remains were listed as unrecoverable after the war and marked as an unknown and brought to the American Cemetery in Manila. The DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) disinterred 39 caskets marked as unknowns from the American Cemetery in Manila and brought them to the forensic lab at the Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii in March and April 2022 for identification.
Irvin’s family was notified that his remains were identified on June 17, 2025.
Irvin’s family (all deceased) includes, parents Tommy and Ella Ellingson, sisters, Alpha Lundmark and Clarice Enerson. Brothers, Omer, Trueman, Clayton, Dennis and Leland Ellingson.
Source: Lon Enerson (Nephew to Irvin)
Submitted by Email to NDDVA on 8/25/2025.
Memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial. Received Purple Heart and Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.