According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Ellingson’s family members recently received their full briefing on his identification so additional details on his identification can be shared.

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. 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.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater. Although the AGRS recovered 65 sets of remains from the Tokyo Military Prison, they were unable to identify any as Ellingson. At the end of AGRS identification efforts, U.S. forces interred 39 Unknowns associated with the Tokyo Military Prison in Fort McKinley Cemetery, now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.

In March and April 2022, DPAA exhumed the 39 unknowns associated with the Tokyo Prison Fire for comparison to associated casualties, including Ellingson, and accessioned them into the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

Irvin Ellingson

To identify Ellingson’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, mitochondrial genome sequencing data and nuclear single nucleotide polymorphism testing.

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, along with the others missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Ellingson will be buried in his hometown on June 20.