A World War II soldier’s remains have finally returned home to North Dakota, 81 years after his death.
Many gathered Thursday at Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Forks to honor the life and service of Army Corps Staff Sergeant Irvin C. Ellingson of Dahlen. The ceremony was led by Lon Enerson, Ellingson’s nephew. He detailed the events that led to his passing, and explained how his remains were identified.
Ellingson graduated from Mayville State Teacher’s College in 1937. After his brother was drafted in 1942, he enlisted.
It was April of 1945. Ellingson was just 25 years old, serving as a radar observer in a B-29 aircraft, flying over Japan. After dropping its bombs, the plane had nearly made it to safety when a Japanese fighter came up and shot out the engine. He survived the plane crash and was taken to Tokyo Military Prison where 61 other Air Corps members were held. After over a month in captivity, an allied run of 500 American B-29s dropped bombs over the region, burning 20 square miles of Tokyo. High winds carried the flames to the wooden prison structure, killing every American held there. It was only a few months from the war’s end.
Ellingson’s remains were buried in Manilla until 2022, when a Pentagon initiative used DNA to identify victims of the prison fire.
Governor Armstrong and Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak joined the family and made remarks ahead of his formal burial in Dahlen this Saturday. Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski welcomed Ellingson home and expressed the honor he felt to be in the presence of the fallen soldier.
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