Lieutenant Ellsworth Croissant 

Lt. Ellsworth Croissant, 22, was killed in a military plane crash in Wisconsin on September 22, 1945. He graduated from Hall Township High School with the Class of 1941, where he played basketball and football. He was employed at Burl F. George’s farm implement store in Spring Valley prior to his enlistment in the Army February 5, 1942, with the medical corps. He was transferred to the Alcan highway project in Alaska where he served for 16 months. After he was discharged from the Army, he joined the Air Corps and was sent overseas serving as a bombardier-navigator with the 15th Air Forces stationed in Italy. He was awarded the Certificate of Valor for 21 combats in enemy territory. He was also awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters and three Battle Stars for participation in the North Apennine, Po Valley, and Rhineland campaigns. Ellsworth was coming home to make college arrangements at the University of Illinois when the twin-engined transport ship on which he was aboard crashed three miles west of Arlington, Wisconsin killing all seven aboard.