Albert Edward Mitchell was born on 25 December 1914 in Seattle, Washington. He attended the University of Washington and then enlisted in the Navy as a seaman second class on 20 December 1940 for flight training at Seattle and Corpus Christi, where he was designated a naval aviator on 30 September 1941 and commissioned an Ensign. While assigned to Patrol Squadron 42, he was killed in action in June 1942 somewhere over Unimak Pass in the Aleutian Islands while battling invading Japanese forces in what would be known as the Battle of Dutch Harbor. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight." In his commendation, it was stated that "although he himself was killed when his plane crashed, he made possible the capture of a Mitsubishi fighter which provided new and invaluable information on this type of enemy aircraft." His remains and aircraft have never been recovered.