Perry Allen
Marine Corps Regular | Service Number 818534
February 22, 1927
in Shiprock, NM
Joseph Allen
Katherine (Benally) Allen
foster parents Mr & Mrs John Sells
Fort Wingate High School
Loyola Marymount University (postwar)
Student
March 6, 1943
at Phoenix, AZ
August 25, 1943
from Infantry Battalion, Camp Elliott
June 13, 1945
to HQ, FMF Pacific
October 25, 1945
Discharged
Shiprock, NM – home of sister, Miss Irene Allen
Alternate next of kin: Uncle, Mr. John Sell, Schurz, NV
Service & Campaigns
Boot camp at MCRD San Diego with Fourth Recruit Battalion. Outposted to Casual Company, TC Camp Elliott on 12 May 1943.
Believed to have attended radio school as part of initial Code Talker training, but failed to complete the program.
Transferred to Infantry Battalion, Camp Elliott, on 2 July 1943. Posted to B/1/24th Marines on 25 August, 1943.
Outfit: B/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 504 (Ammunition Carrier)
Outfit: B/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 504 (Ammunition Carrier)
Important Events:
July 6, 1944 – wounded in action (grenade fragments, left hand) and evacuated to USS Relief.
(Returned to duty August 11, 1944)
Outfit: B/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 604 (Machine Gunner)
Transferred to HQ, Fleet Marine Force Pacific for duty with Marine Garrison Forces, 14th Naval District. Assigned to Naval Base Pearl Harbor (Navy APO 128).
On October 2, 1945, returned to B/1/24th Marines for transit to United States. Honorably discharged October 25, 1945.
Individual Decorations
Medal
Purple Heart
Campaign
Saipan (July 6, 1944)
Citation
Service Stories
“Ironically, Allen was wounded by the exploding fragment of a grenade thrown by a fellow Marine. They were hurling the grenades over a cliff at some Japanese soldiers concealed below. One of the grenades hit a tree and exploded, showering the Marines below with deadly shrapnel. Fortunately, Perry escaped with only a wound in the hand.
“The wound was serious enough, however, to require that he be evacuated. Then followed one of those unexplained foul-ups that happened so often in the service, and he was listed as ‘missing in action’ for the next month…. Perry was recuperating in a hospital at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. It was not until he had caught a ship and rejoined a Marine unit on Maui that it was discovered that he was not ‘missing in action.'”
– The Navajo Times
Post-War Life
Perry Allen returned to Shiprock after his discharge; in late 1945, he relocated to California, where he hoped to further his education and become an automobile mechanic. However, a car crash outside of Shiprock in May 1951 left him paralyzed from the waist down and hospitalized for over a year. Allen learned to use a wheelchair, drive a specially modified car, and got involved with radio broadcasting from the VA hospital in Long Beach, California. This led to a career as a disc jockey in Albuquerque, but Allen soon became interested in public and tribal relations. He studied at Loyola Marymount University and, as a legal counselor in California, practiced almost exclusively with Native clients.
In 1962, Allen opened a public relations firm in Farmingdale, New Mexico, which he hoped would provide “the missing link between his people and the white man.” He held elected office as a Justice of the Peace, was named Director of Public Relations for the Navajo tribe, and became the first chief prosecutor for the Navajo Nation in 1969. After retiring in 1977, he “remained active working for veterans health benefits and education for Native American Youth.”
Allen was active in various Marine Corps veterans organizations, especially those highlighting the Navajo experience in World War II. For unknown reasons, he did not receive his Purple Heart until 1969.
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I’m currently researching all the Code Talkers based on rosters from a few different web sites.
Perry Allen’s assigned MOS was 604, machine gun crewman.
I reviewed the available muster rolls, about a dozen, but can’t confirm. PFC Allen never attended the Field Signal training unit at Camp Pendleton, so he was never qualified to serve as either a Code Talker (MOS 642), or as message center clerk (675).
Hi Neil – from what I can tell, it looks like Perry Allen went through the initial steps of Code Talker training while at TC Camp Elliott, but did not complete the program for some reason. I sent you an email with some more details.