Gov. Beshear Orders Flags to Half-Staff in Honor of World War II Casualty

Governor Steve Beshear has directed that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff on Tuesday, July 29, in honor of a Kentucky Marine killed during World War II and whose remains were recently identified.

Marine Pfc. Randolph Allen, of Rush, will be buried at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Gov. Beshear encourages individuals, businesses, organizations and government agencies to join in lowering flags in tribute to Pfc. Allen on that day.

According to the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, Allen was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, which landed on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll, in an attempt to secure the island against stiff Japanese resistance.

Over several days of intense fighting approximately 1,000 Marines were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. As a result of these attacks, Allen was reported killed in action on Nov. 20, 1943.