HOST GFS Alva

WAR VET DATA SUBMITTED BY:  HOST GFS Alva NAME:   BRANCH OF SERVICE:   FINAL RATE OR RANK:   DATE OF SERVICE ( IF KNOWN):   PLACE SERVED:   MEDALS EARNED:   OUTSTANDING COMMENDATIONS:   ANY UNUSUAL EVENTS:   ANY OTHER INFORMATION:   RELATIONSHIP TO SENDER:   THOSE WHOM SUPPORTED AT HOME   NAME: Wendell Wilson Allen POSITION: Delivered the payroll to the army posts, as a truck driver WHERE: We lived in Washington DC, and I don't know which army posts he delivered to, but I assume he went north as far as (probably) NY and south as far (probably) as NC.  He drove at night and I was a little kid, hiding under his jacket whenever he made stops so he wouldn't get in trouble for bringing me along. That was "Our Time". We always got back home the next day, so we couldn't have gone more than a few hundred miles on the trips I rode along on.  Of course there were trips I couldn't go on, which  were probably further. WHEN: This must have been about 1943, as I wasn't old enough for school. AWARD, CERTIFICATES:   UNUSUAL EVENTS: He wanted to be a soldier so much, and would have made a good one, I think.  He tried to enlist, but was told that his job delivering the payroll was too important.  Looking back on  it, I suppose his honesty and reliability WAS an important characteristic, under the circumstances. The soldiers who unloaded his truck all knew that he wanted to be one of them, and I was so proud of him when, as I hid under his big jacket, they'd all call him "Sarge" and "Captain". RELATIONSHIP TO SENDER: Father