World War II Honoree

Harry J. Allen

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Missoula, Montana

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army from Montana. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designate to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. Following the training, he served as a Left Waist Gunner aboard the B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber, and was assigned to the 714th Bombardment Squadron, 448th Bombardment Group; U.S. Eighth ‘Mighty Eighth’ Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Royal Air Force Station Norfolk, England. Reported missing in action April 4, 1945, when his group was dispatched to bomb German Air Bases in Northern Germany. En route to the targets, his aircraft was shot down by German fighters. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Netherlands American Cemetery Location: Margraten, Netherlands. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Saint Mary Cemetery Missoula, Montana. This American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and the Purple Heart. The Air Medal was awarded to the Sergeant for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight, and the Purple Heart for his ultimate sacrifice.