LT. Col. K.G. ALLEN, CstJ, DL (FS 36-41) died at his home in Somerset on 14th February 2009. Patrick Hargrave forwarded the following address he gave:

“Ken Allen was born into the regiment (The Sherwood Foresters) as was his father, Colonel Basil Allen. Educated at his father’s old school, St Bees, Cumbria, he had a good school career being in the 1st XV rugger team, where he was described as a good forward always in the thick of things, captain of the Shooting Eight, winner of the Senior Steeplechase in 1939 and a school prefect. He also had a good academic record, excelling at Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Applied Maths. He was in Foundation House when it caught fire in the middle of the night in January 1940 – Ken and all the other boys made their escape on ropes thrown out of the windows!
In May 1940, Anthony Eden, the Secretary of State for War, announced the formation of the LDV – Local Defence Volunteers for those either too young or too old for active service. Ken was one of the first to join at the age of 17½. The LDV soon acquired a nickname – “Look, Duck, Vanish” so in July 1940 the title was changed to The Home Guard. I am confident that, in spite of his young age, he would not have been in the mould of “stupid boy Pike” and 100% certain that he would not have been an embryo Captain Mainwaring! Ken would have thrown himself into Home Guard activities with determination, dedication and loyalty, characteristics that had been bred into him and that were to follow him throughout his life.
He enlisted in February 1941 and, after 18 months in 70th Young Soldiers Battalion The Sherwood Foresters, where he became a corporal, he attended OCTU in 1942 and was commissioned into The Sherwood Foresters in August of that year - a few days short of his 20th birthday. After being commissioned, he was an instructor at an Officer Training Unit for just short of a year and in December 1943 he volunteered for commando training. After completing his Special Forces training, he was retained at the Commando Training Centre again as an instructor. His specialisation was blowing things up – or demolition. He saw war service with 2 Commando and with 40 Commando Royal Marines in Italy. 
At the end of the war Ken re-joined the regiment in BAOR initially as 2ic B Company, then Adjutant. He was Battalion cross country champion in 1946, 1947 and 1948. He also played rugger for the Battalion 1st XV. At that time he was a bachelor and one of the few officers who could afford to run a car. It was an old black Citroen but it had no heater. Ken used to take his fellow officers to ski resorts, but with five on board there was always a bit of a fug.  
I was told that, as part of their education, the officers had to attend a series of mind-numbingly boring lectures by a most tedious civilian on a range of esoteric subjects. During one of these lectures Ken got thoroughly fed up and went out, ostensibly for a loo break. Whilst outside he told the duty drummer to give him two minutes back in the hall and then to sound the fire alarm. Everyone except the lecturer was delighted to escape!
Ken left the Battalion for a staff appointment in the local Brigade HQ and then
in 1951, he went to Staff College, Camberley. He must have done very well there as, at the end of the year, he was appointed Brigade Major of a Parachute Brigade – one of the top appointments of the year.
After two years with The Parachute Regiment he returned to the Battalion in BAOR as a Company Commander for two years before being posted to Cyprus as part of the Joint Intelligence staff. After his Cyprus posting he returned to 1 Foresters, by this time in Malaya, where he served for just over a year before, in 1960, becoming OC of the Depot
After the Depot there followed two staff appointments in Singapore, firstly as attache to Chief of Staff at Army HQ and then as the Army Commander’s representative on the staff of CinC Far East. After two years in Singapore it was the War Office for Ken, where from 1963 – 1964 he was in the Land/Air Warfare staff.
One story of his time in command was when the Battalion was on exercise in Libya. Ken had all the officers on parade and he was extolling the virtues of the sun-compass for navigating around the desert. He arranged for an officer of the Battalion, a desert warrior, to give instruction on the use of the sun-compass. It soon became apparent that the officer concerned was a little out of his depth. Ken interrupted and said “After all your years in the desert how on earth did you find your way around?” The officer concerned said “Well, Colonel, I asked a Bedouin.”
In October 1972 Ken returned to UK to the Ministry of Defence, where he was to stay in the Military Secretary’s office until he took early retirement in January 1977. So ended Ken’s 37 years in uniform.
When he became Assistant Regimental Secretary, he and Wendy set up home in Worcester. The house had a large garden where Ken was able to indulge his love of gardening.
He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Worcestershire and Herefordshire in 1987 and served as such for 10 years – an appointment to which once again he gave his all.
The most important element of Ken’s life was his family. He and Wendy were married in April 1956 and Wendy immediately assumed the role of an army officer’s wife and all that goes with it  - packing and unpacking and setting up home in different houses in a different country every two years or so whilst at the same time looking after Ken and later Patricia and Diana. I am told that in Bushey days Wendy endured Ken’s new found hobby of home brewing, with all the window sills groaning under the weight of bottles of beer, and the wood that Ken salvaged from the next door neighbour’s packing cases, which he stacked against the wall for his DIY projects. Wendy was a shining example of an officer’s wife – always there and always supporting Ken. 
He was a wonderful father to Patricia and Diana and later a loving and proud grandfather of Sophie, Emma, Jessica and Nicola.
Ken was a dyed in the wool Forester and, after their amalgamation, a very staunch supporter of the new regiment. The same words about Ken were repeated time and time again: He was an excellent commander in the field, a stickler for things to be done correctly, brilliant on paper, thoroughly conscientious, determined, loyal, dedicated, always approachable, generously hospitable and above all a true gentleman. Wendy and the family have suffered an irreplaceable loss. The regiment has also lost a great man and a very true friend. The world is a poorer place now that Ken is no longer with us.”