Six of the Allen men left their home in small-town Minnesota to fight in World War II. Their father would hang a six-star banner in the window until they all returned home in 1945.

Jim Allen, his grandson, said the red around the edges of the banner has faded.

“But the blue stars are still as bright as ever,” he said.

The banner has been passed around the family for decades, and for now it’s Jim’s. Jim served in the Army from 1961 to 1964, stateside and in Beirut, Germany.

His father, Archie Allen, served in the Army from 1941 to 1945 in Naples, Italy, he said. Archie was a cook in the officers’ mess hall — lots of roasts and hams, cakes and pies, Jim said.

“I don’t know that he likes to cook all that often because he did so much of it,” Jim said. “He is a good cook.”

But in the military, Archie’s favorite dish to make was S.O.S. When he was in the military 20 years later, it was his favorite dish to eat.

“It’s basically either sausage or hamburger in a thick gravy with pepper and stuff on it and it’s poured over toast,” Jim said. “We never had biscuits; it was always toast — that’s the shingles part of it. A lot of guys didn’t like it so there was always extra left over. So we could always go back for seconds.”

As a cook, Archie said he learned not to trust others to do things for him. Once, he poured hot water down a drain that had earlier (unbeknownst to him) been filled with lye. It blew up, scarring his face, which thankfully had been protected by his glasses.

The historic image that sticks out in Archie’s memory of his time in Europe is Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, hanging in Milan. Archie caught a ride in a Jeep to see it, Jim said.

“The action was so volatile at that time that they had 15 minutes; they were allowed into the area for 15 minutes with their Jeep ... so they parked about a block away, he said, ran up there took pictures and ran back to their Jeep and got out of there,” Jim said.

Archie said this instance gave him an appreciation for life.

The other brothers, several now deceased, were less forthcoming with their military experiences. Like many WWII veterans, the Allens remained mostly quiet on the subject of their service.

“Most of them would not talk about it … If they were asked and prodded, you could get a little, but I don’t remember any of them talking about it,” Jim said. “Even my dad — we can’t hardly get him to talk about it. If we really push him, he tells the story about seeing Mussolini hanging there, but it’s really hard to get him to talk about it.”

But Cpl. Willard Allen, who joined the Marines in 1942, would talk about seeing the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, Jim said.

Cpl. Arnold Allen joined in the Army in 1941, and served in the Aleutian Islands “where he saw a great deal of action,” Jim said.

Sgt. Lloyd Allen joined the Army in 1944 and was stationed in then-Calcutta (now Kolkata), India as an airplane mechanic.

In fact, Lloyd and Archie has a long-unnoticed moment of connection while abroad.

“(They) ended up at the same base on the same day in the same mess hall eating lunch two rows away from each other and never knew it,” Jim said. He said they realized it years later when they were talking back at home. “There’s like a thousand guys all dressed the same in a mess hall eating lunch…. You’re kind of incognito.”

Pvt. Andy Allen joined the Army at the end of 1944 and saw action at Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines.

Werner Allen enlisted in the Army in January 1945, was trained in Infantry and shipped to the South Pacific, where he served as a private.

Werner and Andy are still alive and living in the Litchfield, Minn.-area.

Archie lives in Hannibal, Mo. Jim said Archie is a lifetime member of the Legion.

Some of Jim’s family members works at the Hannibal post’s golf course. He said he grew up at the Legion—playing golf with his father early Saturday mornings, attending potlucks.

“The whole family’s involved in the American Legion,” Jim said.

Now, Jim is an active Legionnaire at Post 635 in Illinois. For Jim, Honor Guard gives the opportunity to honor those that served and to show his “high regard for veterans.”