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- Rank: Ship Fitter 3rd Class
- Serial No: 346-76-58
- Branch: US Navy
- Home Town: Texarkana, TX
- Date Of Birth: May 31, 1918
- Age: 23
- Height: 5'-10"
- Disposition: Unrecovered
- Family DNA on File: YES
SF3c Robert Lee "R.L." Allen
Robert Lee Allen and a younger brother, Jake Curby Allen Jr., were both killed in World War II.
Robert, born May 31, 1918, in Texas, enlisted in the Navy on December 12, 1939 in Little Rock, Arkansas and completed his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He boarded the U.S.S. Arizona for duty on March 9, 1940. He was a ship fitter third class when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
Jake, born in 1923, was a private in the 112th Cavalry, a Texas National Guard regiment, when he was killed in New Guinea on July 18, 1944. The regiment took heavy losses during repeated battles that summer in the muddy jungle.
A third brother, Jack, a tech sergeant in the Army Air Force’s, survived the war.
Their parents were Jake Curby Allen, a machine operator, and Bertha Farrar Allen, a homemaker. The family moved from Texarkana, Texas, to Roseburg, Oregon, in the fall of 1941 but returned to Texas shortly before Jake Jr. died.
Sources: Photo provided by Beverly Patton, Niece. The News-Review of Roseburg, Oregon; Census; Navy muster roll; grave markers; Department of Defense. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona and Operation 85.
NOTE: If you are a family member related to this crew member of the U.S.S. Arizona, or have additional information, pictures or documents to share about his life or service to our county please contact us through our FAMILY MEMBER SUBMISSION FORM.