W. P. “Bill” Allen was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in May 1925. He was raised in Murfreesboro and went to school and played sports, such as basketball and baseball. His father worked with the telephone company his whole life. His father started out as the water boy and worked his way up to a line foreman by the time Allen was born. He later became an installer and repairman. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] was hard sometimes, but he did not experience real hardships like other people. He always had food and clothing, “but the extras of life did not come around too often”. He feels fortunate to have had his parents because they raised him properly and to have manners. They both were able to provide for him and his other sibling. He was only 16 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was outside playing football with some friends when one of the parents came by and told them all the news. Allen knew nothing about Pearl Harbor and thought nothing of the news of the attack until that night. He could tell there was something he did not get when he saw how depressed and nervous his mother was. Friends and family tried to convince her that the war would be over before Allen would have to go, but she never believed any of them. Allen graduated high school in the summer of 1943 and was immediately drafted. He reported to the draft board in August 1943 and was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. There, military officers were questioning the new draftees and sending them into separate lines. Allen went into the line for the Navy. He boarded a train and eventually arrived in Bainbridge, Maryland for seven weeks of boot training. He learned a lot during that time, including responsibility, how to take care of himself, and about respect. What he learned in boot camp in the fall of 1943 has stayed with him to this day. He received a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went home for a few days. After completing boot camp, he was sent to hospital apprentice school which was also in Bainbridge. That course lasted roughly six weeks, after which he was sent to the base hospital at the naval facility in Millington, Tennessee in November 1943.

W. P. “Bill” Allen was stationed at a base hospital at the naval facility in Millington, Tennessee. In February 1944, Allen and about a dozen of his friends received orders to report to Lido Beach, New York. Although they were not told why they were being sent to New York, they knew they would soon be on ships bound for England. After a brief stay in New York, Allen was sent to Bayonne, New Jersey where he reported aboard the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. USS LST-523 had just completed her shakedown cruise and was preparing to cross the North Atlantic Ocean to join the war in Europe. They met a convoy with 100 other ships in Nova Scotia [Annotator’s Note: Nova Scotia, Canada] and then set to cross the ocean. It took four weeks to cross the Atlantic and they docked at Plymouth, England in mid-April 1944. Allen was seasick most of the journey. He could hardly get out of bed. The cook, named Jake, offered Allen some pear juice which helped him immensely. USS LST-523 made a number of practice runs all along the southern coast of England. They would pull into a port and load up cargo, then unload their cargo back onto the wharfs. His ship was assigned two doctors and 20 other medics. The medics left the ship for two weeks to learn how to treat men wounded by chemical warfare. Allen also recalled preparing and stocking medical supplies in the ship for various types of wounds and illnesses.

In the first days of June 1944, W. P. “Bill” Allen assigned to the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] were in port and loaded up with vehicles and men. This time, they did not unload like they usually did when practicing for an invasion. Allen knew something was up. USS LST-523 crossed the English Channel with a convoy of other vessels and arrived off Omaha Beach [Annotator’s Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France] in the late afternoon or early evening of 6 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Due to the rough conditions of the surf, they were forced to drop anchor about 50 yards from the beach. For Allen, it was hard to watch as the G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] they had carried over went into the water only to drown when they lost their footing or stepped into an underwater bomb crater. Since they had not been able to get to the beach, LCVPs were used to offload the equipment and supplies they were carrying. The landing craft would deliver a load of supplies to the beach, then load back up with casualties and deliver them to the LST. When USS LST-523 had a full load of wounded aboard, she lifted her anchor and returned to England. During the return trip, there were many wounded who did not survive. One of the crewmen had been a licensed mortician before he went into the Navy, so he was tasked with caring for the bodies and acting as an impromptu grave’s registration unit. Allen was assigned to help him. Allen and the other sailor would collect the dog tags of the G.I.s who were dead when they came aboard or died after being brought aboard. They also cleaned the bodies of the young men with great care and respect. It was a tough thing for Allen to do. [Annotator’s Note: On 18 June 1944,] USS LST-523 was headed to Omaha Beach on her fourth trip across the Channel carrying a contingent of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion. When she arrived off the Normandy coast, she anchored and waited for the tide to go in so she could run onto the beach and wait for the tide to go back out which would leave her beached. This made loading and unloading the ship easier. While they were waiting to head onto the beach, Allen grabbed a bite to eat and went out on deck to eat it. He met a pair of G.I.s who were also having lunch at about the same time LST-523 weighed anchor. They told Allen that they were going to sit in their truck to eat lunch and he was welcome to join them. Allen accepted the invitation and hopped in the truck with the two soldiers. No sooner had he sat down, however, than there was a terrible explosion. Debris was flying everywhere, and Allen is convinced that had they not been in the truck, they would have been killed by the wreckage falling back down onto the deck of the ship. When he did get out of the truck Allen realized that the ship was sinking. Allen knew that he was about to die. The ship had been blown in half and he was standing on what was left of the stern. When it went down, he knew he would be going down with it. The suction of the ship sinking would pull him under, and he would become another casualty of the war. Right about the time he was ready to give up he heard someone calling his name. He looked up and saw his friend, Jack Hamblin [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling]. He had somehow found a life raft and was paddling toward Allen. When he got within about 15 feet of the stern, Allen jumped into the water and grabbed hold of the raft. The two swam as hard as they could to get away from the wreckage so that it would not take them down with it. At some point they came across four G.I.s, two of whom were in very bad condition. They put the two badly wounded men on the raft and waited to be picked up. After being in the water for 15 to 30 minutes, Allen and the others were picked up by the crew of a LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. The coxswain piloting the landing craft set a course for the beach, but sea conditions began to worsen so he delivered them to the closest ship he could find. When he asked the skipper of the ship if he could take survivors aboard, the skipper [Annotator's Note: captain or commander of a naval vessel or aviation unit] replied that he would take on as many as they could get to him.

W. P. “Bill” Allen was assigned to the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] which hit a mine not far the beaches of Normandy in mid-June 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Allen and a few others survived the sinking and were taken aboard a Liberty Ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. Once aboard ship Allen and his fiend Jack Hamblin [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling] were told by the skipper [Annotator's Note: captain or commander of a naval vessel or aviation unit] to go to the galley and order whatever they wanted to eat. They did, but realized that when their chow came out, they could not eat. After staring at their plates for 15 or 20 minutes they were approached by the skipper who sympathized with them. He showed them to a cabin and told them to get some sleep. As Allen and Jack lay in their bunks, they relived the event every time the ship rose and fell with the ocean swells. When Jack asked Allen if he was awake, Allen replied that he did not think he would ever be able to sleep again. The survivors were finally picked up and taken to a survivors’ camp in Foy, England where they spent several weeks recovering from their ordeal. He learned that 117 men were killed from the wreck, and only 28 men survived. From there, Allen got word that he was to return to the United States for redeployment to the Pacific. He and the other survivors returned to the United States aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth. When they got there, they were seen by a doctor who classified them all as being unfit for combat duty. The doctor told him that his nervous system had been shattered from the blast. Allen was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Center [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes, Illinois] where he finished the war. Allen was discharged from the Navy on 16 May 1946.

W. P. “Bill” Allen was a Navy medic assigned to the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. The LST had two decks. One was large where they drove tanks, halftracks [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks], ambulances, and other vehicles. LSTs were known to be slow and easy targets for the enemy. On his LST, they had stretchers that they lined up on a deck for the wounded where they treated many patients. The doctors even did surgery on the deck. Allen’s living conditions aboard the LST were scarce at best. He and 17 others lived in a compartment that was roughly ten feet wide and 25 feet long. The bulkheads on each side of the compartment were lined with bunks for the men to sleep in. During the few off hours they had, the men played with the two decks of playing cards the ship had aboard for entertainment. That was it. Allen played a lot of pinocle. He got to know many of the sailors onboard and they learned a lot about each other. It was an adjustment learning to adapt to people’s different personalities. They had to learn to be a team. During boot camp, there was one guy who was always dirty and never took showers and the group always failed inspection because of him. Finally, a group of guys wrestled the dirty guy down and put him in the shower and scrubbed him until he bled. When Allen was drafted, he was not given a choice of what branch of service he would go into. He was told to stand in a line, and ended up being in the Navy. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:54:15.000.] His boot camp was only seven weeks and he does not remember very much about his chief, but he remembers liking him. While in boot camp, he took various tests and it was determined that he would go into medic training. He received a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went home for a few days. After completing boot camp, he was sent to hospital apprentice school in Bainbridge, Maryland. That course lasted roughly six weeks after which he was sent to the base hospital at the naval facility in Millington, Tennessee, arriving in November 1943. Before he was sent overseas, he was sent to New York. He was able to have liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and see the city. Allen is glad he served and made so many friends and learned about responsibility.

W. P. “Bill” Allen was a Navy medic assigned to the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. He developed many friendships with the men he served aboard with during his service. His ship was sent overseas and docked in England. Allen did not get any liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] while he was there. When he returned to Foy, England he was given permission to go into town. He got to know some of the locals. USS LST-523 crossed the English Channel with a convoy of other vessels and arrived off of Omaha Beach in the late afternoon or early evening of 6 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Due to the rough conditions of the surf, they were forced to drop anchor about 50 yards from the beach. Since they had not been able to get to the beach, LCVPs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] were used to offload the equipment and supplies they were carrying. The landing craft would deliver a load of supplies to the beach then load up with casualties and deliver them to the LST. When USS LST-523 had a full load of wounded aboard she weighed anchor and returned to England. The sight was horrible. He just concentrated on his work and did what he had to do. On the second trip, his LST was able to hit the beach. On one trip back, his LST brought back wounded German prisoners. Many of them were relieved that their fighting was over, while another German kept saying, “Heil Hitler!” [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. Allen said that they pumped him full of morphine to knock him out. Allen was so appreciative of the people at Normandy National Cemetery when he visited the area after the war. His LST did a trip to Utah Beach [Annotator’s Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France], but he does not remember much about that stop. On 18 June 1944, USS LST-523 was headed to Omaha Beach on her fourth trip across the English Channel carrying a contingent of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion. He talked about the life preserver equipment and how many of the sailors wore them incorrectly and therefore many of them drowned.

W. P. “Bill” Allen was assigned to the USS LST-523 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] hit a mine not far the beaches of Normandy on 18 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was not physically hurt by the event, but the doctor told him that his nervous system had been shattered from the blast. At the moment of the blast of the mine, everyone was on their own. He was able to get on a raft with one of his friends, Jack Hamlin [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling], and they rescued a few wounded soldiers. The stern of the ship sank, but the bow stayed afloat until morning when it finally went under water. He does not remember the name of the ship that rescued him, but he believed it was a Liberty Ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. When Allen was sent back to the United States, he went to Great Lakes Naval Training Center [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes, Illinois] where he finished the war. He took medical care of the trainees during their boot camp. Later, he was assigned as master of arms and did inspections of the bunks. When World War 2 ended, he had duty on both VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] and VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] so he could not celebrate. He recalled hearing about the death of FDR [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, who died 12 April 1945]. He thought dropping the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was best because more lives would have been lost otherwise. Allen was discharged from the Navy on 16 May 1946 as a hospital apprentice first class (HA1c) from the separation center in Millington, Tennessee. He went home and found a job in the post office service and later in the Veterans’ Administration. He later worked for an electric company and retired with them.

W. P. “Bill” Allen did not suffer from post-traumatic stress from his war experience. However, just recently he had a dream reliving the day that his LST [Annotator’s Note: USS LST-523] hit the mine. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was when his ship sank and he thought he was going to die. From that day on, he felt he was given a bonus. He believes that America is the greatest country in the world, and we went to great lengths to preserve it. Many leaders of our country are not looking out for the best interest of America. The war changed Allen from being a boy and turned him into a man. When he came home from war, he was able to take care of himself. Allen believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.