Laurence Edmund Allen

For other people named Larry Allen, see Larry Allen (disambiguation)

For World War I flying ace, see Laurence W. Allen

Laurence "Larry" Edmund Allen was an American journalist for the Associated Press from 1933 to 1961. Known for his coverage of British Mediterranean Fleet , for which he won first Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting in 1942, he was also a prolific reporter on rise of communism in Poland and Cuba. ^{[1] [2]}

Laurence "Larry" Edmund Allen
Born	(1908-10-19)October 19, 1908 Mount Savage, Maryland
Died	May 12, 1975(1975-05-12) (aged 66) Mexico
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Journalist, Foreign Correspondent
Known for	Coverage of British Mediterranean Seas

Biography

Larry Allen was born October 19, 1908 in Mt. Savage, Maryland ^[3] . He began his journalistic career on the local bureau of the Baltimore News in 1926. He subsequently moved to West Virginia and joined the Daily Mail in Charleston, where he worked as a reporter and a telegraph editor for six years. In 1933 he was hired by the Associated Press's local bureau, where he worked as a local reporter and a site editor. After two years, he was transferred to Washington, another two years after — to New York, where he became a foreign cables deskman till 1937. ^[1]

Allen served as a European war correspondent for the Associated Press since July 1938 when he sailed to Europe to cover the Spanish Civil War and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia following the Munich crisis. When World War II broke out the AP assigned him to cover the British Mediterranean Fleet, making him the first war correspondent to travel with the British Fleet in wartime ^[4] . During his assignment he took part as a journalist in the Battle of Crete and the Tobruk's raid. After the operation’s failure, he was captured by Axis forces and held prisoner in Italy for 11 months ^[5] .

Allen survived eight torpedo attacks and was held in a Nazi prison camp for eight months. ^{[6] [1]} In 1942, the journalist was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting and the National Headliner Club Award for his combat correspondence during World War II. In 1945, Allen was also awarded the Bronze Star for the Defending Freedom Press as Prisoner of War, in 1947 — the Order of the British Empire by King George VI. ^{[2] [7]}

In 1945, Allen covered the Communist takeover of Poland. He then moved to Moscow, where he headed the Associated Press news bureau. Allen held the same position in Tel Aviv in 1950, and then he was assigned to Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and also Indochina, where he covered the battle of Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War. In 1957, Allen shifted his focus to the Fidel Castro takeover in Cuba, but four years later he was retired. ^{[1] [2] [8]}

References

1. Brennan 1999, p. 592.
2. Fischer & Fischer 2002.
3. "Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 27, Number 5, May 1946". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 27 (5): fmi–fmviii. 1946-05-01. doi:10.1175/1520-0477-27.5.fmi. ISSN   0003-0007.
4. "Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 27, Number 5, May 1946". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 27 (5): fmi–fmviii. 1946-05-01. doi:10.1175/1520-0477-27.5.fmi. ISSN   0003-0007.
5. Larry Allen, an A.P. Reporter Who Won Pulitzer, Dead at 66, The New York Times, May 13, 1975, Page 38.
6. Lett B. 2014.
7. "Laurence Edmund Allen". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
8. "Larry Allen Papers". Syracuse University. 1966. Retrieved 2020-10-21.

Books

• Brennan (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 592. ISBN   9781573561112.
• Fischer, H.; Fischer, E. J. (2002). Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000: Journalists, Writers and Composers on Their Ways to the Coveted Awards. Vienna: Walter de Gruyter. p. 4. ISBN   9783598301865.
• Lett B. (2014). An Extraordinary Italian Imprisonment: The Brutal Truth of Campo 21, 1942–1943. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. p. 256. ISBN   9781473843011.