December 1944. West Feild, Tinian. VPB-111 arcft #38913, "Rugged Beloved," crewed by CAC #8. Standing left to right: Ord AOM1c J.A. Zike; 2P Ens T.C. Harding; PPC Lt Cmdr A.M. Ellingson; 1P Lt(jg) L.B. Shanks; AG AOM3c V. Kalman. Kneeling left to right: AG S1c H.C. Cain; 1R ARM3c J.R. Ray; 2R ARM3c W.T. Garland; 1M AMM2c A.J. Winward; PC AMM1c H.J. Rosler.

On 12 February 1945, Lt Cmdr Ellingson and his crew were credited with an air-to-air shoot down of a Japanese "Nell" (Mitsubishi G3M2 Navy land-based twin-engined attack bomber), around 1:00 P.M. approximately 2NM off the French Indo-China coast and 6.5NM from Qui Nhon, Indo-China (Vietnam). This put the PB4Y-1 approximately 800 miles from their departure point, McGuire Field, Mindoro, P.I. AMM2c Winward mann! ed the bow gun and brought the "Nell" down.

On 21 February 1945, Lt Cmdr Ellingson and his crew were credited with an air-to-air shoot down of a Japanese "Jill" (Nakajima B6N2 Tenzan [Hevenly Mountain] Navy single-engined carrier-based attack bomber) around 1:00 P.M. approximately 36NM south of Tourane (Da Nang) and 6NM off the Indo-China coast. This patrol also flew out of McGuire Field. Once again, AMM2c Winward, the bow gunner played a major roll in the shoot down along with AMM1c Rosler manning the deck gun.

On 12 May 1945, Lt Cmdr Ellingson and his crew were credited with an air-to-air shoot down of a Japanese "Topsy" around 1:00 P.M. approximately 3miles inland from Cukai, Malaysia. This patrol flew out of Puerto Princessa, Palawan Is, P.I. Once again, AMM1c Rosler, the deck gunner played a major roll in the shoot down along with AOM1c Zike manning the bow gun.