Hallet Allen

Hallet Allen was born on April 28, 1921 in Pungo, NC, a neighborhood in the township of Pantego, in North Carolina's low country. His father was a tenant farmer and later a foreman. Hallet had three much older brothers who were all adults by the time he was born, so he was raised essentially as an only child.

Hallet completed a year of high school, and then enlisted in the army on November 8, 1939, six months after he turned 18. He was first stationed in Chesapeake, VA and likely had several different posts before he was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. He married Betty Jane Evans on November 1, 1941, and they became the parents of a son, Hallet Thomas, born in 1942.

Hallet saw service in Europe with the unit during the war, and remained in the Army afterward. Like many men who enlisted in the Army well before the war, he registered for the draft after he returned home—on September 4, 1945.

He and Betty had two more children in the 1940s—David and Janet. Sadly, Janet died of a congenital heart defect when she was only five months old. By 1949, Hallet was stationed in Harrisburg, PA with the rank of Staff SGT. In 1954, shortly after the end of the Korean War, he was sent to Korea with his unit. He was promoted to 1st SGT while in Korea, where he worked as a mess steward in the medical company of the 7th Infantry's 17th regiment through at least 1955.

He left the Army around that time and returned to Harrisburg where he worked for the Penn Cab Co. and became a 32nd degree Mason. Around 1965, he started using the name Carlton Hallet Allen and sometimes Carlton H. Allen. Little else is known of his life or work.

Hallet (Carlton) died on February 10, 1988 in Conroe, TX where he was living at the time, though his wife remained in Harrisburg. He is buried at Garden Park Cemetery in Conroe.

Sources:

1939 enlistment record

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8939/records/2830015?tid=&pid=&queryid=7a77ab69-70dc-4957-89ef-57eb5fe1584d&_phsrc=lVG11&_phstart=successSource

1940 census

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/20745406?ssrc=pt&tid=19304114&pid=122205736546

1941 marriage record

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61381/records/2534961?tid=&pid=&queryid=56a696fc-48b1-41a8-9373-b939a0c82fa4&_phsrc=lVG3&_phstart=successSource

1945 draft card

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238/records/7697220?ssrc=pt&tid=19304114&pid=122205736546

1949 daughter's death record

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5164/records/605713915?ssrc=pt&tid=19304114&pid=122205736546

1950 Pennsylvania US Veteran Compensation Files

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3147/records/185305?tid=&pid=&queryid=9582c40f-520f-46e8-ac5e-002a511b392b&_phsrc=lVG1&_phstart=successSource

1950 census

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62308/records/238639585?tid=&pid=&queryid=9662ffc0-9ac3-41f3-80a7-47b430e95344&_phsrc=lVG8&_phstart=successSource

1954 article in the Washington Daily News (NC) about his military career

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1046326207/?match=1&terms=hallet%20allen

1955 article in the Washington Daily News (NC) about his military career

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1046312925/?match=1&terms=hallet%20allen

1988 Social Security applications and claims index

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60901/records/35825472?tid=&pid=&queryid=82a94489-e445-43fe-8581-44ce53ca780f&_phsrc=lVG15&_phstart=successSource

1988 Find a Grave record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/220750200/carlton-hallet-allen

1988 obituary in The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1077459531/?match=1&terms=hallet%20allen