Lost in 1945, WWII Soldier will be laid to rest in North Dakota

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson, 25, of Dahlen, North Dakota, killed during World War II, will be interred June 20, in Middle Forest River Cemetery in Dahlen, North Dakota. Services and interment will be coordinated by Amundson Funeral Home.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson, 25, of Dahlen, North Dakota, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 17, 2025.

In the spring of 1945, Ellingson served as a radar observer aboard a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" bomber assigned to 878th Bombardment Squadron, 499th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy). On April 14, during a combat mission to Tokyo, Japan, the aircraft was shot down over Chiba Prefecture. Ellingson survived the crash but was held as a prisoner of war. He perished in the Tokyo Military Prison during a fire on May 26, 1945.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Ellingson on June 17, 2025.

For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Ellison, please visit: [https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4354847/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-ellingson-i/](https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4354847/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-ellingson-i/)

U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Amundson Funeral Home, 701-772-7070.