Allen, Laverne Kenneth
Marines Private 1st class

Laverne Kenneth Allen, age 24, from Kent County Grandville, Michigan .

Parents: Elmer Allen

Service era: World War II
Schools: Hudsonville High (1938)

Date of death: Tuesday, September 19, 1944
Death details: In September 1944, American forces launched Operation STALEMATE II, the invasion on Peleliu, an island in Palau. On Sept. 15, the 1st Marine Division came ashore under enemy fire. The following day, Marines secured the island’s airfield despite taking heavy casualties. The battle for Peleliu lasted another two months, as Marines were forced to clear heavily fortified pockets of Japanese resistance across the island. The 1st Marine Division, reinforced by the 81st Infantry Division, slowly advanced north under nearly constant mortar and artillery fire. The invasion of Peleliu had the highest casualty rate of all the amphibious Pacific Island invasions of World War II. Private First Class Lavern Kenneth Allen, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Michigan, was a member of Company G, 2nd Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Division, which took part in the invasion of Peleliu Island. On September 19, 1944, he was last seen during an assault on a hill known as “Bloody Nose Ridge.” The circumstances surrounding PFC Allen’s loss are unclear and attempts to locate his remains following the end of hostilities were unsuccessful. Today, Private First Class Allen is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Grand Rapids Press (1944)