Born in Sabetha, Kansas, Mr. Ellington moved with his family to Topeka where he completed his high school education. When he began his college education at Washburn University he recalls calling the draft board to find out why his name had not yet been called. Drafted in July, 1943, he briefly describes going to Fort Leavenworth and resisting efforts to place him in the Navy. After receiving his basic training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, he is sent to radio training school at Pittsburg State in Kansas and is finally stationed as a radio operator at Godman Field, Kentucky where he served under the command of Colonel Benjamin Davis. The war ended before the 477th Army Air Force support group was sent overseas and Corporal Ellington returned to civilian life in Topeka, Kansas in 1946.