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Sergeant Mack Lawrence Allen* U. S. Marine Corps Service # 424285
January 5, 1925 –
February 26, 1945 |
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Maui was centrally involved in the Pacific
Theater of WWII as a staging center, training base, and for rest and
relaxation. At the peak in 1943-44, the number of troops stationed
on Maui exceeded 100,000. The main base of the 4th
Marines was in Haiku. Beaches (e.g. in Kihei) were used for
practice landings and training in marine demolition and sabotage.
The Makawao Cemetery was near the Marine Corps main base camp. His
obituary in 1947 said he died at Pearl Harbor on the Island of Oahu
(the big island); the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Honolulu did not open until 1948, so the Makawao Cemetery was
probably being used for military burials. When he joined the Marine
Corps his family was living at Mercedes, Hidalgo County, Texas. At
the time of his death he was survived by his parents, and two
sisters: Maxine and Maurine. When his remains were returned to the
United States for re-burial at Kosse, his sister Maurine was living
in Bay City (married to John Ethelred Hammond) and the rest of his
family was living at Edinburg, Hidalgo County, Texas. Sergeant Allen was erroneously listed as a Matagorda County casualty by the War Department. He most likely should have been listed as a Hidalgo County casualty. No record of any type, other than his sister living in Bay City, has been located to associate him with Matagorda County. We are proud to honor him and carry his name on our Matagorda County War Memorial.
*Sergeant Allen’s given name was apparently mis-spelled by the War Department as March L. Allen, USMC, this with the error in his hometown compounded their mistake.
**The most extant record located is the 1930
census for Hidalgo County, Texas; the family is living in Mercedes
City and Mack’s name is given as Mac. Prior to that, in the 1920
census, his parents and
two sisters are living in Pct.2, Cherokee County, Texas. |
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Ewa Marine Corps Air Station |
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Private Mack L. Allen, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Allen, who lived here for many years, now of Edinburg, is now stationed in San Diego, California, Signal Battalion, M. C. B., Radio Class 11, and will finish in this branch December 26, according to word received here. Mack was reared in Mercedes and graduated from the Mercedes High School with the class of 1941-42. He enlisted in the Marines July 14, 1942. While on the rifle range, he won four medals. He took a test for radio and was one out of five to pass the test placing him in his present work.
The Enterprise, Mercedes, Hidalgo
County, Texas, December 4, 1942 |
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Mrs. J. R. Allen My Dear Mr. and Mrs. Allen, It is with the deepest personal feeling that I offer my heartfelt sympathy in the loss of your son, Sergeant Mack L. Allen, United State Marine Corps, on February 26, 1945. I had been his commanding officer for a number of months, and during that time I learned to know him as one of the very finest of our young men, deserving of the many friendships he had formed, professionally keen, and a splendid asset to the Corps. Mack died in the line of duty in the service of his country. He was in a Government motor vehicle on an official mission when a collision occurred with another car. In the car with Mack were an officer and three other enlisted men; your son was not driving. Mack’s funeral service with full military honors was this afternoon. His body was interred March 3, 1945, in Plot “G”, Burial Number 1587, in the Halawa Naval Cemetery, on the Island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. The personal mementos, keepsakes and valuables that he had with him are being sent to the Commandant of the Marine Corps at Headquarters, Washington, D. C., for further shipment to you. I realize I can be of very little material assistance to you, but please feel free to call upon me if there is anything that I may be privileged to do. Sincerely yours,
Ferry Reynolds
The Enterprise,
Mercedes, Hidalgo County, Texas, April 6 1945 |
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Mack L. Allen, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Allen of 513 E. Peters St., Edinburg, was killed in the line of duty in the service of his country on Feb. 26th, 1945. He was a Sergeant in the U. S. Marine Corps stationed in the territory of Hawaii. He moved with his family from Jacksonville, Texas to Mercedes at the age of 3 and was graduated in the class of 1942 from the Mercedes High School. Joined the Marine Corps in July of that year and took his basic training and Radio School at San Diego, California. He went to Hawaii in February of 1943 serving there until the time of his death and was awaiting his relief in order to come home on furlough. He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John P. Allen of Edinburg, two sisters, Mrs. Polson D. Harris of Manchester, N. H., and Mrs. John Hammond of Bay City, Texas. Sgt. Allen was a member of the Baptist Church of Mercedes and was 20 years of age.
The Enterprise, Mercedes, Hidalgo
County, Texas, April 13, 1945 |
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Funeral services for Sergeant Mack L. Allen, USMC, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Allen of Edinburg and brother of Mrs. J. F. Hammond of Bay City, will be held Wednesday at 3 p. m. at Kosse, Texas. Rev. Melvin A. Marshall, pastor of the First Baptist Church here, will be in charge of services. Rev. Scaly, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Kosse, will assist with the services. Burial will be in the Kosse Cemetery. The remains of Sgt. Allen, the Mercedes Marine was among the first of the United States war dead to arrive in San Francisco aboard the Honda Knot. Sgt. Allen was listed among the 3000 aboard the ship, a converted Army transport bearing the remains of those who were first to fall at Pearl Harbor and shortly afterwards nearly six years ago. Sgt. Allen was killed while on a government mission in Oahu, Hawaii, February 26, 1945. He had been to the Marine Corps three years prior to his death. He was serving with [the] communications office in Hawaii. He was 20 years old at the time he was killed. Full military honors will be accorded the Marine Sergeant by Waco and Kosse Legionnaires. Services are under the direction of the E. S. White Funeral home of Kosse.
The Daily Tribune, Tuesday, October 21,
1947 |
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Sgt. Mack Allen's Body Will Arrive in San Francisco Today The remains of a Bay City Marine today was among the [first of] the United States' war dead to arrive in San Francisco aboard the Honda Knot, according to a dispatch from the Associated Press. Sgt. Mack L. Allen, USMC, son of Mrs. Annie J. Allen, ___, was listed among the 3,000 aboard the Honda Knot, converted Army transport bearing the remains of those who were the first to fall at Pearl Harbor five years and 10 months ago. Mrs. Allen was unavailable today, and information concerning her son and his war record were not available. SAN FRANCISCO. Oct. 10. (UP)--The nation's flag flew at half staff today as America paused to pay reverent tribute to the first of her war dead returning home from battlefield graves. The funeral ship Honda Knot, a converted Army transport, was slated to steam through the Golden Gate shortly before noon, bringing back the first of "the boys who didn't come home." In her hold were some 3,000 brown steel caskets mostly bearing the remains of those who were the first to fall at Pearl Harbor five years and 10 months ago. The Honda Knot's arrival had marked the tangible beginning of the Army's "operation taps" the vast reburial program under which more than 250,000 known war dead will be returned from overseas graves in the Pacific and in Europe. The European phase of the operation gets underway on Oct. 26 when an identical transport arrives in New York harbor bringing the first bodies from the U. S. military cemetery, Henri Chapelle, Belgium. The great grey transport will drop anchor and pause for a time off San Francisco's Marina Green where the City's bereaved gather to pay a simple, heartfelt tribute to the vessel's silent passengers. A national memorial service will be led by Mayor Roger Lapham, aided by civic, religious, veterans and military leaders, including Secretary of the Navy John J. Sullivan and Gen. Mark Clark, Sixth Army commandant. The religious services will be conducted jointly by the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish churches. They will be represented by the Rev. Hughbert H. Landrum, Archbishop John J. Mitty and Rabbi Morris Goldstein. From the shoreside service, the Honda Knot will proceed to the San Francisco port of embarkation dock at Fort Mason, Oakland, where the first of the caskets will be unloaded. Six of the flag-draped caskets will be taken to the rotunda of the San Francisco City Hall to lie in state throughout tomorrow. They will symbolize the heroes of the five services and the civilian casualties of the war. Though it is by far the largest, this operation is not the first of its kind in the nation's history. Similar operations followed the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I. The Daily Tribune, October 10, 1947
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Mr. and Mrs. Phillip B. Young have received word of the death of John R. Allen former resident of Mercedes. Mr. Allen, died unexpectedly Monday in San Antonio, where he was spending the Easter holidays with a daughter, Mrs. Maxine Weir. Also surviving are another daughter, Mrs. Maurine Gibson of New Iberia, La., three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Mr. Allen was produce buyer in Mercedes and Edinburg for many years before retiring and moving to Palestine in 1960. He was preceded in death by Mrs. Allen in September, 1961.
Mercedes Enterprise, Thursday, April 14,
1966 |
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