PRIVATE 5827645 REGINALD HAROLD ALLEN

HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT

1919 – 1944

Reginald was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment who were in the first wave to land on Gold Beach at 07:15Hrs. During the D Day landings of June 6th 1944, Gold was the central beach of five, the Hampshires were part of 231 Brigade by nightfall they had captured their objectives and secured Arromanches, this would be the main supply base for the allied landings with the building of the temporary Mulberry A and B Harbours that would remain operational until proper port facilities like Cherbourg captured on 29th June 1944 were in allied hands, although Mulberry B remained in use for a further 5 months. Reginald was killed in action on 11th August 1944 during operation Totalise that had began on 8th August 1944 to capture the crucial town of Falaise and join up with the American Army, this would encircle the German 7th Army and allow the allies to break out into the open French countryside.

He is remembered with Honour and buried in grave V11.E4 St Charles De Percy War Cemetery France.  He is also remembered on a plaque in St John’s Church Gt. Wenham

Reginald was one of two boys born in Gt. Wenham Suffolk in the early part of 1919 to William Archibald Allen and Florence Allen nee Couzens, his brother was William Archibald Allen Jnr. Born Gt. Wenham 1917. Their father William was born in Gt. Wenham in 1885 and died in 1975, their mother Florence was born in East Bergholt in 1890 and died in 1973 they had married in the Samford Registration District in 1914. His father William was a farm worker and by 1939 was employed as a tractor driver, his brother William Jnr. by 1939 was also a tractor driver. Their mother Florence had been employed before marriage as a servant at the Station Hotel Manningtree . Reginald had like his brother attended Capel St Mary School upon leaving he was a farm worker, the family in 1939 were living in Ivy Cottage Nr. The Church in Gt. Wenham.

The 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment was stationed in India at the outbreak of World War Two and was quickly transferred on 11th December 1939 to Egypt where they took part in the first British offensives in the Western Desert, by June 1940 it was looking after large numbers of Italian prisoners. By 1941 they had been transferred to Malta and remained there throughout the siege. In July 1943 they took part in the assault on Sicily and in September they landed Nr.Pizzo, later in the month they were back in Sicily waiting to be transferred back to England where they started training for D Day where they landed on day one and remained in Europe until V.E. day  

Depending on when Reginald enlisted and when he was posted to the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment, he may have been entitled to:

1. •Africa Star
   

2. •Italy Star
   

3. •France and Germany Star
   

4. •1939 – 1945 War Medal
   

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