Memorial Day

William Allen with younger brother, Ben.

On Memorial Day, we need to remember all of the soldiers gave up their dreams for us. William Allen was a Knox grad, Galesburg HS English teacher, and my wife, Amy's uncle. William Allen was killed in WW2. He wrote this in a letter to his family, after finding a friend killed in action in April of 1945:

“I shall never forget late one afternoon when I discovered dead near his gun position the man whom I respected above all others as a soldier. I calmly reported the fact and got a good night’s sleep. It was not until several days later that his body slouched in his hole began to haunt me and I realized that I had lost my friend. He was every muscle a hero, and he should have died a hero’s death as he stormed an enemy emplacement.”

“He had displayed his ability and his guts often enough before. But he was far behind the lines when the artillery shell with his number on it landed in his hole. That’s another shocking thing about this war- a hero, contrary to fiction and Hollywood, seldom dies a hero’s death. It’s just an unlucky hit which gets him when he doesn’t even have a chance to fight back.”

William Allen was killed a little over a month later when his jeep ran over an Allied land mine designed to protect U.S. troops. It was just weeks before the end of WWII.