Sergeants' Mess
George ALLEN and comrades

If you know, or are related to any of the men in this photo, please contact: Marie Curley or this site. Thank you.

Maris Stella (nee Allen) Curley remembers her late father GEORGE ALLEN was born in Liverpool, England, on January 21st, 1918. He enlisted in the British Army at barely 16 years of age, on August 28, 1934. His army service number was 4123398. Cheshire Regiment. George served with the 2nd Battalion at Catterick Camp, England, till 1936, before moving to India with the 1st Battalion, in 1937, when he was stationed at Bombay. In 1938 George Allen sailed to Port Sudan, on the East Coast of Africa. On mobilisation in August 1939 "A" Company moved to the Sudan and in 1940 he was stationed in Moascar, Ismailia (Egypt). In February 1941 the Battalion was ordered back to the British base of Alexandria and later sailed to Malta , arriving here on February 20th, 1941.   At Malta, "A" Company was stationed in Valletta. Sergeant Allen's regiment was in Malta till December 9th, 1943, and was stationed at the Verdala station, near the town of Cospicua. George was a machine-gunner using the 'Vickers' 0.303 Anti Aircraft guns, which were used to shoot at enemy planes from rooftops. A Story as told by George Allen to his daughter, Marie. "During my war years in Malta our sergeants' mess was in a chateau far from anywhere! Underneath the chateau were big cellars full or wine. We raided the cellars, cut a big hole in the floor to gain easy access to it and used to drop a bucket down and pull it up brimming full. We had all this wine on tap and you can imagine the mess nights we had, they couldn't have been any bigger! "The rats in the cellar were as big as cats and it had nothing to do with the drinks we'd been downing. 'Gomerino' was the name of the owner and I don't think he was very pleased with us." WW2 and later life. His tour-of-duty at Malta was to shape George Allen's destiny considerably, for here he met and married a Maltese girl from Zabbar, Mary Pavia, in October 1942. The couple remained at Malta until December 9th, 1943, when George's regiment was mobilized again. The Allens moved to England and there they had seven children. They travelled to different parts of the world with the British Army and, after leaving the forces in 1962, George, and his family, moved out to Australia. George loved the sea and had his own boat. He was a member of the Manly Coast Guards near Brisbane, spending many hours fishing out in Morton Bay. He died at the wheel of his boat, while crossing the notorious sandbanks at the South Passage Bar. After being cremated, his ashes were taken out to the spot where he died. A flotilla of Coast Guard boats escorted his boat out to the spot and there was a minute's silence, while his ashes were scattered. He couldn't have wished for a better way to go.