Arthur M. Allen, Jr.
Date of Birth: March 20, 1926
Place of Birth: Maryland
Father and Mother’s Names: Arthur Millar Allen, Sr. and Wilhelmina (Sahr) Allen
Date Entered Service: Enlisted in 1942 from Fort Riley, Kansas.
Service Branch: Marine Corps
Service Number: 559706
Rank: Private
Division/Company/Unit info: Company G, 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division.
Awards and Commendations: Purple Heart, Pacific Campaign Medal with One Battle Star, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, WWII Victory Medal, USMC Golden Dragon Certificate.
Riley Connection: Graduated from Manhattan High School. Entered service from Fort Riley, Kansas.
Date of Death (and Age): KIA (Killed in Action) March 14, 1945 (18 years old).
Place of Death: Iwo Jima
Grave Location: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii. (Section F Row 0 Grave 944).
Bio: Arthur Millar Allen, Jr. was born in Maryland on March 20, 1926 to Arthur Millar Allen, Sr. and Wilhelmina (Sahn) Allen. Arthur spent his childhood years around Washington, D.C. where both his parents were government clerks. When he reached his teens his family moved to Manhattan, Kansas where Arthur graduated from high school. In 1942, Arthur joined the Marine Corps from Fort Riley and was attached to Company G, 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division as an Infantry Rifleman. In early March 1945, Arthur's unit landed on Iwo Jima. This was the beginning to the end for this brave soldier.
Arthur Allen's First and Last Battle:
March 14, 1945 D+23 - Enemy resistance was light on March 14, and it became evident that the Japanese had little left but machine guns, knee mortars, grenades and rifles. The 26th Marines took over the center line, bringing all three regiments abreast again. The 28th Marines held their positions on the south side of the rocky gorge, and the 27th Marines along with the 26th's right elements gained up to 600 yards. 3/26 launched a daylight attack which gained steadily after armored dozers had hacked out paths in front of the lines so that much needed armor could move. Battered 2/26, averaging 70 men per company, picked up 400 yards.
During this attack Private Franklin E. Sigler won the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the risk of his life. He had voluntarily taken command of a rifle squad when the squad leader was hit, and moved out ahead of his squad to charge an enemy gun which had held up his company. Attacking with grenades he wiped out the emplacement and killed the crew, but was almost immediately taken under fire from emplacements above him. He scaled the rocks which hid these emplacements, and made a furious one-man attack in which he was severely wounded. He got back to his squad, but refused to be evacuated and directed heavy machine gun and rocket barrages on the cave entrances, meanwhile carrying three Marine casualties to safety in spite of his own painful wounds. He was finally ordered to the rear.
On the right of the Division line, Companies A and C of 1/27 gained between 200 to 300 yards. During the engagement, Lieutenant William H. Van Beest, the last original officer in C Company, was killed and Major Tumbleston, the battalion commander, was badly wounded and evacuated. Major William H. Kennedy, 3rd Battalion operations officer, took command of 1st Battalion.
On the far right of the Division line, 3/27 moved ahead 600 yards and enabled the combat team to shorten its lines by 300 yards. All along the 5th Division zone, close air support and naval gunfire had to be secured. The front lines were so irregular, the area remaining to be captured so small, and the terrain so broken that fire from tanks and halftracks replaced artillery for daylight close support.
The 5th Division returned to Camp Tarawa, Hawaii and remained there until the end of the war. After the Japanese surrender they set sail for Japan where they occupied the southern island of Kyushu. The 5th Division left Japan in November 1945 and arrived in San Diego, California the week of Christmas 1945. The majority of the division’s Marines were discharged shortly thereafter. The 5th Marine Division was inactivated on 5 February 1946.
