Allen Horton was born in 1921 in Middletown, Connecticut, a congregational minister's son. His father's profession required the family's relocation within the United States numerous times during Horton's early years, and at 17 he spent a year living with a French family in Strasbourg, France before entering Princeton University in the fall of 1939. After what Horton called several "uneventful, not very productive years as an academic," he was awakened one Sunday morning by his roommates who told him Pearl Harbor had been attacked. He joined the V-7 program [Annotator's Note: US Navy college training progrm, the successful completion of which rsulted in the student recieving a commission in the Navy Reserve], and his academic life went on as before. He was not a good student, and decided he would join the Navy. Horton feels it is the smartest thing he ever did. In July 1942, he reported in to Newport, Rhode Island, where he completed boot camp and quartermaster training. Upon graduation he shipped out to San Francisco, California and was immediately assigned to the USS Nevada (BB-36).

Allen Horton reported aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36), and a fellow Princeton acquaintance helped him settle into pleasant accommodations in the exclusive quartermaster's section. He played chess and cribbage with shipmates, and when on duty he stood watch, becoming not only a helmsman and then a quartermaster, but also an adult. The Nevada sailed around the Aleutians, patrolling back and forth on various parallels. Every once in a while, Horton said, there was a submarine scare, but the battleship was well protected by a couple of destroyers. At the invasion of Attu, the Nevada came in close to the beach, and pounded the island with its 15-inch guns. Horton could see the shells hitting the island and exploding. Ashore, the troops encountered only the Japanese "holdouts" who were "sticking there" in the caves, refusing to budge. The Nevada eventually steamed south through the Panama Canal, and Horton remembers his captain making the announcement that the sailors would have to shave their beards, because "the Atlantic is a civilized ocean." Many of the sailors took umbrage; Horton himself had grown quite proud of his beard. When the ship stopped in Panama, Horton had shore duty, and he said the prostitutes, good looking girls, immediately gathered around the ship. The sailors were warned to be careful. Some weren't, and paid for it. The Nevada then went to Northern Ireland, participated in a couple more large convoys, then pulled into Boston, Massachusetts, where Horton left the ship. He was commissioned out of midshipmen's school in Chicago, Illinois, and proceeded to Scouts and Raiders training at Ft. Pierce, Florida. Horton trained in weightlifting, swimming, and diving, and learned the ins and outs of small craft. He was sent to Maui, and finally placed with Underwater Demolition Team 7 [Annotator's Note: UDT 7], which was readying for Okinawa.

Allen Horton was commissioned out of midshipmen's school in Chicago, Illinois, and proceeded to Scouts and Raiders training at Ft. Pierce, Florida, where he trained in weightlifting, swimming, and diving, and learned the ins and outs of small craft. He was sent to Maui, and assigned to Underwater Demolition Team 7 [Annotator's Note: UDT 7], which was readying for the Okinawa invasion. After a practice run in Manila Bay, Horton boarded a destroyer escort, and was on his way to Japan. Each underwater demolition team was comprised of 100 men, and Horton's team was assigned to Yellow Beach. At about 1,000 yards out, divers were placed about every 50 yards, and tasked with swimming straight in to the beach, to take notes on the underwater formations. Stronger, "cross swimmers," like Horton, worked parallel to the beach, performing the same tasks. After their surveillance mission, Horton went back to headquarters of the oncoming fleet, along with officers from different demolition teams, to report to the generals and admirals regarding the information they had gathered on the areas they were about to attack. Horton said it was quite an occasion for young men like him. Other demo teams did the blasting to clear identified obstacles to the beach landings. Horton watched some of the explosions, and thought they were impressive.

Allen Horton had a long leave on Ulithi, where the mail that had been collecting for some time finally reached the soldiers. He received a letter announcing his father’s upcoming marriage to Mildred H. McAfee, the first director of the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service in the U.S. Navy]. Horton was granted leave for the wedding, and during his return trip to the States, the Japanese surrender was announced. Horton is sure that if the United States had invaded Japan as planned, it would have been disastrous. When Horton returned to his team, they were sent to Tokyo Bay where the Allied fleet was gathered. The new destroyer escort on which they traveled was sent on a surveillance trip to Sendai, Japan. There, his team had an encounter with what Horton called "fisher folk." Soon afterward, Horton sailed back to San Diego by way of Guam, and his team disintegrated. After a short stint at shore patrol in San Diego, California, and another in Manhattan, New York, Horton was discharged.

Allen Horton was called back to Navy headquarters in New York to pick up a Silver Star. The citation was for his work preparing for the landings at Okinawa, Japan. Reading the account, Horton said, the operation sounded quite impressive. But, Horton remarks, there were other soldiers whose experiences, comparatively, were far more meritorious than his. He took advantage of the G.I. Bill to finish his undergraduate degree at Princeton. He also used it to study Arabic at the American University in Cairo. He largely credits the G.I. Bill for his shift of focus to the Middle East. He met his English wife there, and, after higher education in anthropology at Harvard University, traveled the world working on a doctorate in village study. Horton said the war changed his approach to education, and he was a much better, mature student.

Allen Horton returned to his memory of life on the USS Nevada (BB-36). He said the Nevada had been at Pearl Harbor, and had been repaired and put back into service pretty quickly; some of the crew had been on the ship during the attack. Recalling his training in Florida that put him in the best physical shape of his life, he says it was pretty intense. The trainees came to better understand the bottom of the sea and its inhabitants. Horton made good friends with both the officers and men of his underwater demolition team [Annotator's Note: UDT-7], and the only tension he recalled happened occasionally between the team and the ship's company. He admits that the team took some pride in its station, and might have been "bastards" sometimes. Horton thinks it important that institutions such as The National WWII Museum carry on the story of the war. The experience matured him and did a lot for him. His message to future Americans is to avoid war. Horton thanked the interviewer for the interest in his story.