CEREMONY HONORS NORTH DAKOTA WWII VETERAN AS HIS REMAINS RETURN HOME AFTER NEARLY 80 YEARS

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer issued the following press release:

Family, friends, and community members gathered in Dahlen for a three-day homecoming honoring U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Irvin C. Ellingson, as his remains returned (https://www.cramer.senate.gov/news/press-releases/remains-of-north-dakota-world-war-ii-veteran-officially-identified) to North Dakota nearly 80 years after his aircraft was shot down during a combat mission over Tokyo. Ellingson will be laid to rest June 20 in his hometown with full military honors, closing a long chapter of uncertainty beginning in World War II.

Throughout the homecoming, family members paid tribute by reading wartime letters, singing patriotic songs like "You're a Grand Old Fl...