Spurgeon Ellington

Birth: October 17, 1919 Death: December 10, 1945 (26) (plane crash) Immediate Family:

Son of James A Ellington and Erma Ellington 
Ex-husband of Maria Antoinette Cole 

Lieut Spurgeon Neal Ellington

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55388800

In civilian life, Lt Ellington was an elementary school teacher.

He entered the military out of Fort Bragg, NC in 1942, and was trained as a pilot at Tuskegee Army Air Field. Lt. Ellington flew with the 332nd Fighter Group, 99th Fighter Squadron piloting its P-51D Mustang in the European skies.

Ellington was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery as a pilot in 1944.

In 1943, Lt. Ellington married Marie Antoinette Hawkins, but they divorced after 7 months. (Marie Antoinette ultimately became the wife of the famous singer, Nat "King" Cole.)

He was killed with another pilot, Lt Richard Hall in a plane crash during a training exercise at Crystal Lake, Georgia in 1945.