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A portion of S.C. Highway 917 in Latta has been named in honor of Brigadier General Carroll G. Allen, Sr.
The portion includes from 1131 S.C. Highway 917 East to 608 S.C. Highway 917 East.
A ceremony was held on Wednesday morning to recognize the naming of the road.
Allen said he was very humbled and appreciative to have the road named in his honor.
Carroll Allen was born July 24, 1929, the oldest son of Henry W. and Olive Bethea Allen. As a very small child, when his mother was expecting her second child and was having a hard time carrying this child, Carroll went to live with two aunts who would care for him during his mother’s illness. After the child was born, and only lived a few months, the two aunts, Betty Allen and Jane Crump, had become so attached to Carroll and him also to them that they kept the boy and raised him to adulthood. His parents lived nearby so they were together much of the time. The families were close knit. The two aunts had a small farm, which is part of the land that the Allen’s now own, sent Carroll to school and he graduated from Latta High School and they were able to send him to Clemson College.
Brigadier General Carroll G. Allen began his military career as a distinguished military graduate from Clemson College in 1950.
He was commissioned Second Lieutenant on June 4, 1950. General Allen joined the 228th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group in Dillon and entered active duty on September 11, 1950. He was stationed at Camp Edward, Massachusetts.
After extensive unit and individual officer training courses, General Allen was assigned to service in Korea where he served with Battery A, 999th Armored Field Artillery. General Allen served in two Korean combat campaigns. On April 1, 1959, General Allen was assigned as Company Commander of Company B, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 263rd Armor and served on battalion staff S-2 and S-3 from Company B, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 263rd Armor and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on June 19, 1972.
General Allen was promoted to Colonel and assigned to 218th Heavy Separate Brigade in Newberry, S.C. on November 18, 1976. He served as Deputy Commander until his retirement on August 5, 1984.
General Allen had the distinct honor of commanding one of the first National Guard Combat Battalions to become round out to an Active Army Division-The First Calvary Division located at Fort Hood, Texas.
General Allen has received numerous decorations and awards while serving and active duty and with the South Carolina Army National Guard. These include Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with Battle Star, United Nations Service Medal, Reserve Components Achievement Medal, and Overseas Service Medal.
When Carroll Allen returned from Korea in 1952, he came back to the small farm that his aunts owned and began to farm, something that would become a great part of his life. He married Barbara Jean Shelley on Feb. 28, 1953. She had graduated from Furman University and became a teacher. They had two sons, Carroll Glenn Allen, Jr. (deceased) and Donald Keith Allen, who is now a partner in Betty Allen Farm, which has multiplied many times from the size of the farm that Mr. Allen started with Mrs. Allen left her job as a teacher to raise her family, and she says that this was a decision she never regretted.
Carroll Allen also knew he had to do more to support his family than farm with his aunts. He sold farm equipment and sold cars to survive. In 1956, he was offered a job teaching school at Latta High School. He stayed there until 1961. In 1959, he also took a part time job with Farm Bureau Insurance in Dillon. After a short time he went full-time with the Insurance Company and was made agency manager. Mr. Allen stayed with Farm Bureau until 1998, a total of 39 years. His awards in Farm Bureau were Master Agent 1992, 1993, President’s Club, Agency Manager of the year in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and Agent of the Year for District 1 1982, 1988.
In addition to everything else in life, he was once President of the Latta Jaycees. He is a member of the Latta Rotary Club, and he is serving his church, Latta Baptist Church, faithfully as a past Deacon and has taught Sunday School for more than thirty years. Mr. Allen served on the board of directors for Carolina Community Bank as well as serving on the board of advisors for First Bank in Dillon.
He is also a life member of V.F.W. Dillon Chapter and Dalco Lodge #160.
In Nov. 2004 he was named Dillon County Veteran of The Year.
Carroll Allen is most proud of his family–wife Barbara Jean, sons Glenn (deceased) and Keith, grandchildren Blake Allen, Amanda Allen Huggins, Kate Allen, and Karen Allen, and great-grandchildren Aubrey Allen and Luke Huggins.