Doris "Lucki" Ilda Allen (1927–2024) was a PE teacher from El Paso who joined the US Army in its Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1950. She became a military intelligence specialist and did three tours of duty in Vietnam. For predicting the Tet Offensive and her other achievements, she was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2009.
Doris Ilda Allen | |
|---|---|
 Arrival in Vietnam in 1967 (center) | |
| Nickname(s) | "Lucki" |
| Born | May 9, 1927[1] El Paso[1] |
| Died | June 11, 2024 (aged 97)[1] Oakland[1] |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | Women's Army Corps[1] |
| Years of service | 1950–1980[1] |
| Rank | chief warrant officer 3[1] |
| Unit | 519th Military Intelligence Battalion[2] |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Bronze Star Medal (3)[1] |
Early life and education
editShe was the youngest of five children of Richard and Stella Allen who worked as a barber and cook, respectively. She studied physical education at the Tuskegee Institute and, after graduating, taught at a high school in Greenwood, Mississippi for a year before enlisting.[1]
Woman's Army Corps
editShe auditioned for the WAC band, playing the trumpet but was not accepted. Instead, she played in a show that toured army bases. These included the Presidio of San Francisco where she played with André Previn.[3] She also served in other specialities including information and journalism.[1]
Her nickname of "Lucki" came from association with her older sister who was known as "Jinx" for having bad luck, especially with her car.[2] Her sister, Jewel, was also a WAC and commanded her when she was a broadcast specialist at Camp Stoneman.[1]
Vietnam War
editAllen then learnt French, interrogation and other intelligence skills and did three tours of duty in the Vietnam War, starting in 1967. She gathered intelligence and wrote a report which correctly predicted the Tet Offensive ahead of its start in 1968 but this warning was ignored. Her later warnings included an ambush, chemical weapons and rockets and these were more effective. On her third tour, she led a team of forty Vietnamese translators in Saigon that analysed enemy documents. Her name started to appear in the documents as a target for the Viet Cong and she then decided that it was time to return home.[1][4]
Post war and retirement
editShe was awarded three Bronze Stars for her service in Vietnam. Back in the US, she became the first full-time female instructor of prisoner interrogation at the Army Intelligence Center and then became a counterintelligence specialist. She retired from the military in 1980 and was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2009.[5] She was the second black woman to get this recognition, following Mary Bowser.[6]
After military service, she studied psychology, gaining a doctorate in clinical psychology at the Wright Institute in 1986. In 2014, she wrote her memoirs, Three Days Past Yesterday: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Incredibility.
She and her sister bought a house in the hills of Oakland when they were stationed there in 1968. They both lived there together after retiring from the army. Her sister died in 2009 so Lucki then lived alone there until the COVID-19 pandemic when she moved to an assisted living apartment. She died in an Oakland hospital on 11 June 2024 at the age of 97.[1][3]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Richard Sandomir (June 28, 2024), "Doris Allen, Analyst Who Saw the Tet Offensive Coming, Is Dead at 97", The New York Times
- ^ a b David Siry (August 25, 2016), “Too Blessed To Be Stressed”: A Women's Army Corps Intelligence Analyst Puts The Pieces Together, West Point Department of History
- ^ a b Sam Whiting (July 11, 2024), "Doris Allen, Army intelligence analyst during Vietnam war, dies at 97", San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ William Beterbide (March 22, 2024), Army Veteran Doris Allen, VA
- ^ Blake Stilwell (November 16, 2020), This Military Intelligence Hall of Famer Predicted the Tet Offensive, Military.com
- ^ Dr. Doris "Lucki" Allen, National Association of Black Military Women