James David Ellison was born on 7 January 1917 in Crane, Missouri.  He was the son of Loda and Norva Ellison.  He had a brother named Olyn and a sister named Nora. He was married to Margaret who may have been from Pecos, Texas based on the attached obituary.  He attended high school in Crane, and in 1939 he graduated from Missouri State College (now Missouri State University.) He played football and basketball, and he coached for two years at Cabool before joining the US Army Air Forces on 1 December 1942.  

James was the Bombardier of a B-17 Flying Fortress that was nicknamed Snow White.  On 15 October 1945 the Snow White was on a mission to bomb Cologne, Germany when it was struck by anti-aircraft fire.  The pilot gave the order to bail-out.  The Snow White broke apart, and fell to the ground near Wiehl in Germany.  Only two members of the crew survived.  Three other members of the crew are also buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery:  John B. Wise (Navigator), Reuben Bratmoe (Flight Engineer), and James Goonan (Ball Turret Gunner.)

Information from the attached obituary from Missouri State University (courtesy of Erwin Derhaag), The US Census of 1940, and the 486thBomb Group Association (http://www.486th.org/BS835/List.htm)