Through the medium of a telegram the first of the week from the War Department at Washington, D. C, the family learned the distressing news that Sergeant Noble E. Ellington, 25, of Mangham, had been killed in action January 29th. Young Ellington was registrar of voters of Richland parish before volunteering for the service; in fact, was holding this position at the time of his supreme sacrifice for his country’s liberty. During his absence his wife was filling the office. At the time of his death he was a waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress in the Third Division Eighth Air Force in England, and only last week we published an account of a citation by the President to this Fortress group for its bombing of Focke Wulf aircraft plants at Posen, Poland.

Sgt Noble Ellington killed in combat #wwii Sat, Feb 17, 1945 – 1 · The Richland Beacon-News (Rayville, Louisiana, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Sergeant Ellington was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement. Sergeant Ellington is survived by his wife, who was Miss Lula Jones before her marriage; One son, Noble, Jr., aged 2 years; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Ellington, of Mangham; one brother. Captain J. C. Ellington, in the Medical Corps of the U. S. Army; two sisters, Mrs. Elwyn Lyles, of Baskin; and Mrs. Tom H. Armi-tage, of Bastrop. The death of this fine young man, full of bright promise and the friend of everybody, is the occasion for universal sorrow, and legions of friends profoundly sympathize with the bereaved family in their great sorrow.

Sgt Noble Ellington killed in combat #wwii Sat, Feb 17, 1945 – 1 · The Richland Beacon-News (Rayville, Louisiana, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Noble E. Ellington Brought Home

On Wednesday afternoon as the golden sun dipped into the west and evening shadows lengthened over the Gwin Memorial Cemetery at Mangham, the long journey of a gallant young soldier came to an end in the quiet and peaceful soil of his birth.. Home, yes, home at last! Sergeant Noble E. Ellington had come home where he shall sleep amidst surroundings he had known and loved until the last bugle shall sound reveille. Relatives, friends and acquaintances gathered around the flag-draped casket at 4 p. m. to pay their last tributes of respect to the memory of one who had paid the- supreme sacrifice. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. L. P. Arender, assisted by Rev. C. W. Jones, with the American Legion Post of Mangham participating in the services. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Mulhearn Funeral Home of Rayville. The following are the survivors: Mrs. Lula Ellington, wife of the deceased, and their son, Noble, Jr., of Mangham; Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Ellington, parents, Mangham; Dr. J. C. Ellington, brother, Rayville; and two sisters. Mrs. F. E. Lyles of Baskin and Mrs. Tom Armitage of Bastrop.

Sergeant Ellington was born at Mangham on May 26th, 1919. He was a graduate of the Mangham high school and of Draughn’s Business College, Memphis, Tennessee. Shortly after graduating from business college he became registrar of voters of Richland Parish, which office he held until February 17th, 1944. He made his first mission over Germany on December 24, 1944, and had completed six subsequent missions when his plane crashed January 25th, 1945, near Norwich, resulting in his death.

This writer, who has been privileged to say a few words through the medium of the press in tribute to the memory of this gallant young soldier, feels wholly incapable of suitable wotds to express adequate sentiments. The record of his noble and unselfish services to his country and the sacrifices he made have all been written indelibly in the archives of a grateful nation. But in my humble way let the few words I have to say be not of Sergeant Ellington, the soldier, but of Noble Ellington, the man.

Before the first gun is fired and the sword drawn, in the quiet, ordinary humdrum pursuits of life with its joys and sorrows, character is made and expresses itself in the conduct of a human being. All men can rise to high occasion when the drums beat and bugles blow, but not all men can so live that those who know them best can say they died as they lived- clean, honest and sincere. Noble Ellington did not gird himself with high virtues when his country called, for he possessed them already in the courage of his convictions, in his love and devotion for home and family, in loyalty to friends and in reverence to Him who created all things. Surely, in his tragic and untimely death War war did not cut down just a soldier, but took from the community in which he lived and loved, an influence for good in a shining example of young manhood. To the bereaved family whose wounds have been reopened and memories stirred by this homecoming and more particularly to the one who has courageously smiled through these years when friends have known her heart was breaking, let there be peace. Soldier, rest! thy warfare o’er

Noble Ellington Sat, Jul 24, 1948 – 1 · The Richland Beacon-News (Rayville, Louisiana, United States of America) · Newspapers.com