{"id":176213,"date":"2025-11-14T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=176213"},"modified":"2025-11-12T19:53:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:53:58","slug":"valor-friday-354","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=176213","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Millard (Tex) Allison was an American who fought for Canada in the Second World War. The U.S. Army considered him a deserter after the conflict. (Michael Johnston for CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the days before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was solidly staying out of the Second World War. For many young men who longed for glory and to fight fascism, the American reticence to join the war was too much. They ran off and joined the Canadian or British military. About 9,000 Americans served in the British or Commonwealth forces prior to American entry in the war. While most are listed as civilian volunteers, and indeed the majority were, some of them had run away from their American military service commitments to get into the war sooner.<\/p>\n

One such example is Lew Millet<\/a>, who left his enlistment with the US Army to join Canada. He returned to the US Army once we joined the war effort under a policy that brought Americans in Allied militaries to serve in our armed forces. While he owned up to his earlier desertion, the Army eventually court martialed him for it, but he got a battlefield commission shortly thereafter for his repeated heroism.<\/p>\n

Today’s post is about a man like Millet who ran to Canada to fight, leaving behind the American Army. Also like Millet, our subject Millard “Tex” Allison was a badass who fought harder than any one man has any expectation to. Millet’s combat bravery would see him rewarded with a Medal of Honor during the Korean War. Similarly, Tex Allison was also recommended for the Commonwealth’s highest honor, the Victoria Cross. According to historians, he would have gotten it too if he hadn’t been a deserter from the US Army.<\/p>\n

CBC has the story<\/a>;<\/p>\n

\n

How an American \u2018deserter\u2019 fought for Canada in WW II \u2014 and Canadians fought for him<\/h3>\n

In a cemetery in rural Norman, Okla., about 30 kilometres outside the state\u2019s capital, a man some call a hero of the Canadian Army lies buried.<\/p>\n

But nothing about the grave of Millard (Tex) Allison \u2014 marked only by a simple plaque \u2014 hints at his actions recorded on the battlefields of Europe in the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Those actions led to Allison being nominated for the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour for a Canadian fighter.<\/p>\n

But the award was not granted to the dismay of Allison\u2019s living family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel as a veteran myself that veterans deserve more than they oftentimes get,\u201d Allison\u2019s daughter, Paula, who served in the U.S. Air Force, said in an interview with CBC News from her home in St. Joseph, Mo. \u201cThat’s why I was upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Whalen, a historian for Allison\u2019s old unit, the British Columbia Regiment, believes anyone who fought like Allison in the face of the enemy would have been awarded a Victoria Cross.<\/p>\n

Whalen and Allison\u2019s family believe he was refused because of who he legally was: a deserter of the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he goes before the king, there’s going to be media and press and it’s probably going to come up pretty quickly that this person is missing from the United States Army,\u201d Whalen explained of his impression of Canadian brass thinking, who sought \u201cto avoid any embarrassing situations with our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allison joined the Canadian Army in 1941 as the U.S. had yet to enter the war.<\/p>\n

But despite fighting with Canada as part of the Allied effort, Allison was court martialed by the U.S. for desertion after the war.<\/p>\n

Veterans in Canada and the U.S. came to his defence but he still officially left American service with a general discharge under honourable conditions, not an honourable discharge.<\/p>\n

Allison died in 1976. His family is now appealing to authorities to upgrade his award to a Victoria Cross and grant him an honourable discharge from the U.S Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just amazing what he did during the war,\u201d said Allison\u2019s grandson, Marc Bishop, himself a U.S. Army veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt kind of when I was in combat that he was my guardian angel. I wasn’t worried about dying because, I mean, if he could do what he did and make it back, I could go through what I had to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018That’s the way my dad was\u2019<\/h4>\n

Allison was a sergeant in Fort Lewis, Wash., in the summer of 1941, according to his family.<\/p>\n

The U.S. was still officially neutral at the time and Allison read about the conflict in Europe with frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s the way my dad was,\u201d Paula Allison said. \u201cHe felt the world needed to resolve this issue and the United States was just sitting back and not doing anything, so he joined Canada to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After crossing the border and enlisting in the Canadian Army, Allison was assigned to the British Columbia Regiment, a.k.a. the 28th Canadian Armoured Regiment. In April 1945, the unit crossed the K\u00fcsten Canal in western Germany.<\/p>\n

According to his Victoria Cross nomination, written by his commander, Lt.-Col. John Toogood, Allison\u2019s tank drove over a railway bridge, drawing heavy fire. He couldn\u2019t drive off the rails because his 30-tonne Sherman tank would sink into the soft, swampy ground.<\/p>\n

Instead, he used his tank to push a railway car along as cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was completely successful,\u201d the nomination read. \u201cThe enemy, being disturbed by the erratic progress of the car, turned all guns upon it. He was enabled to liquidate the enemy posts methodically as he advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pushed forward about two kilometres until German infantry charged at him with anti-tank weapons \u2014 too close for the tank\u2019s weapons to shoot back.<\/p>\n

He popped out of his hatch, \u201cexposed to the most merciless small arms fire,\u201d and with a revolver and hand grenades, fought back the Germans.<\/p>\n

Then Allison saw that his commander\u2019s tank, well behind him, had been hit and was in flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a moment\u2019s hesitation, he scrambled out of his tank and worked his way back through the hellish automatic fire,\u201d the nomination read.<\/p>\n

He grabbed his commander, Capt. Dave Bell, from the burning tank and ran him to cover.<\/p>\n

Then he rescued another survivor from the burning Sherman and ran him to safety as well.<\/p>\n

Allison then dashed back to his own tank, despite being burned badly, and for two days fought off repeated counterattacks.<\/p>\n

He was credited with destroying an armoured infantry vehicle and two self-propelled guns \u2014 tanks designed to destroy other tanks \u2014 as well as killing 50 enemy soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis initiative, devotion of duty, and absolute disregard for his personal safety was an inspiration to all,\u201d the nomination read. \u201cLargely owing to the stark courage of this single [non-commissioned officer], the … force maintained pressure and the enemy was compelled to regroup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allison was nominated for a Victoria Cross, but was not awarded one, instead receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal.<\/p>\n

A rare award<\/h4>\n

Whalen believes Allison\u2019s technical desertion explains the Victoria Cross refusal, but admits that\u2019s not formally spelled out in documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery, very seldom you will see any written reason,\u201d Whalen said. \u201c[Generals] don’t want any kind of redress later on after the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

The awarding of a Victoria Cross under any circumstances is incredibly rare. No Canadian has won one since 1945.<\/p>\n

Veterans Affairs Canada says about 100 Canadians have been awarded one, including 16 in the Second World War.<\/p>\n

It says 2,132 Canadians have been awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal, including 162 in the Second World War.<\/p>\n

David O\u2019Keefe, a professor of history at Marianopolis College in Westmount, Que., believes the deserter issue may have been a factor, but there could be other factors as well.<\/p>\n

Politics and pride between army units, he suggested, or the desire for some in the Canadian Army to discourage reckless behaviour from troops thought to be \u201cmedal-hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n

“What they’re a little bit worried about would be honouring somebody with the highest award for fear that somebody would try to emulate it later on, but in a reckless fashion,” O’Keefe said.<\/p>\n

But he agrees Allison\u2019s actions are worthy of a Victoria Cross.<\/p>\n

\u2018Canada would be lucky to get him\u2019<\/h4>\n

Allison and his Canadian wife and daughter \u2014 Bishop\u2019s mother, born while Allison was overseas \u2014 left Canada after the war for a Fort Worth, Texas, trailer park where he worked in a factory.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where, in 1948, he was arrested by the FBI and charged with desertion. But helping defence in the court martial were his former comrades in Canada.<\/p>\n

Toogood, his old commander, lobbied American counterparts for Allison\u2019s release, newspapers reported at the time, telling his lawyers about his war exploits.<\/p>\n

Veterans in Vancouver \u2014 including Capt. Bell, who Allison saved \u2014 filed a protest with the U.S. government, a Texas newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019ll come back to us,\u201d Bell was quoted as saying. \u201cCanada would be lucky to get him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the court martial convicted him of desertion in December 1948.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to six months of hard labour \u2014 remitted, so he did not serve the time \u2014 and had his rank reduced from sergeant to private. He left the U.S. Army with a discharge under honourable conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful Christmas present,\u201d the paper quoted Allison as saying.<\/p>\n

But Allison’s family feels he wasn’t treated properly.<\/p>\n

Bishop is appealing to a local congressman to get his grandfather an honourable discharge. He\u2019s written to the Canadian government and even King Charles III to consider upgrading the Distinguished Conduct Medal.<\/p>\n

In Vancouver, Whalen says the regiment is fundraising to have a proper Canadian veteran headstone made for Allison\u2019s grave in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a point of honour for us in the regiment,\u201d Whalen said. \u201cHe deserves the recognition of that headstone but the downgrade of the V.C., well, that just puts an extra edge on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allison\u2019s story \u2014 an American coming north to Canada and then Canadians coming to his defence \u2014 could be an illustration of the close ties the two countries\u2019 peoples have traditionally shared.<\/p>\n

The newfound strain on the relationship today is not lost on those who know Allison\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe each share a border. If something happened to Canada tomorrow, wouldn’t I want the United States to defend them? If something happened to us, wouldn’t we want Canada to help defend us?\u201d Paula Allison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I’m telling you, we need as countries to resolve these issues that we are having right now, today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Award upgrades of this nature are very rare in the Canadian and British awards system. Far more rare than it is here in the States. So I don’t expect this to come to anything. The story of Jess Larochelle<\/a> has gotten a lot more traction, and upgrading his Star of Military Valour to a VC shows zero signs of movement.<\/p>\n

The Distinguished Conduct Medal that Allison received was the second-level award for those below commissioned rank. It ranked just below the VC, and is equivalent to an American Distinguished Service Cross. In the Canadian awards system it was replaced by the Star of Military Valour in the 90s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the days before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was solidly staying out of … Valor Friday<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":176214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,631,10,597,389,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-army","category-canada","category-historical","category-uk-and-commonwealth-awards","category-valor","category-we-remember"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/176214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}