SSgt Irvin Casper Ellingson
Tokyo Military Prison Fire

15 June 2020

499th Bomb Group (VH), 878th Bomb Squadron
AIRCRAFT COMMANDER
AIRCRAFT SERIAL NUMBER
NICKNAME
LATIMER
42 - 24644

5 January 1920 - 26 May 1945
source : Michael Krehl

 

Within the main page Michael Krehl has put together a PDF slide show titled
Honoring Irvin's Memory

SSgt Irvin Casper Ellingson remains one of 37 men from the Tokyo Military Prison fire who have yet to be identified.

Michael is working with the DPAA in an attempt to identify these men.

Other tributes to SSgt Ellingson are in his place at
Tokyo Military Prison Virtual Cemetery
( Scott Muselin )
and
Honor States

His name appears in the Courts of the Missing at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Nearly all the pages of Case History 111 are from the IDPFs of SSgt Irvin C Ellingson and SSgt Chester A Johnson, Jr.

Most of the documents in these pages concern SSgt Ellingson but you will encounter several exceptions.

Unlike most of the pages in the 73rd Bomb Wing POW Honor Roll, there are no sections for Recovery, Identification, and Coming Home. Instead, the focus in most of the documents is
Non-Recoverable Remains.

An unusual aspect of his IDPF is inclusion of content from Case History 051, Koishikawa Military Cemetery. This was necessary because some men were in the Tokyo Prison prior to 25-26 May 1945 and either died from various causes there or were transferred to another POW camp.

Irvin Casper Ellingson was born 5 January 1920 in North Dakota and enlisted in the US Army in December 1942. His family placed a Memorial Marker in the cemetery at Dahlen, North Dakota and this can be seen at his Find-A-Grave page within the Tokyo Military Prision Virtual Cemetery.

His station list appears below this introduction and covers the time from 30 December 1942 through 10 November 1944 when he departed for Saipan from Mather Field.
The Capt. Will F Latimer, Jr, crew arrived on Saipan 14 November 1944.

You will encounter several lists within these pages, all with the goal of first determining the names of the men who were at the Tokyo Military Prison the date of the fire. Efforts were made to identify the remains, some with success and others not.

As of this date, 15 June 2020,
SSgt Irvin Casper Ellingson's status is

Killed in Action While a Prisoner of War of the Japanese Government
Remains Not Recoverable


My thanks to

Michael Krehl
Scott Muselin
Al Schutte
Roy Wall ( IDPF)
POW Research Network Japan

 

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