Edward Curlin Allison, Jr.

Edward Curlin Allison, Jr. was born on June 26, 1912 to Daisy Dunlap Curlin and Edward Curlin (E.C.) Allison and grew up in Goldendale, Washington.   E.C. was proprietor of Allison's Pharmacy in Goldendale.  Daisy Curlin died in January 1925 when the younger Allison was just twelve.  He graduated from Goldendale High School in 1930, where he held several student offices and played football and basketball. 

Allison attended Washington State College (WSC) from 1930 through 1934.  He began his career as a Business Administration and Pharmacy major and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.  He was a student head of winter sports as well as a member of the student election board. Allison transferred to the pharmacy school at North Pacific College of Oregon in Portland, Oregon, graduating in 1936. Following his graduation from North Pacific, he joined his father in running Allison's Pharmacy in Goldendale. He married Amy "Carolita" Hazeltine on September 2, 1936 in Pacific County, Washington. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from WSC in 1935. Allison and Carolita had two children, Robert (Bobby) and Dorothy (Ditty) Kay. 

Allison enlisted in the Army in the fall of 1942 as a volunteer officer candidate, but he received an honorable discharge before he finished his training on March 30, 1943 following the death of his father and stepmother. He then enlisted in the Navy as a pharmacists' mate first class, receiving an assignment as a senior pharmacist at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. In July 1944, his enlistment was terminated and he was "given a jump promotion from petty officer to lieutenant junior grade after receiving a physical defect waiver for having insufficient teeth with replacements. Allison was assigned to the attack cargo ship USS Alcyone (AKA-7) in the Pacific Theater.  The Alcyone took part in the assault on the Lingayen beaches on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, beginning on January 9, 1945. On January 10, 1945, the ship was approached by a Japanese suicide boat, prompting Allison to place his picket boat between the Alcyone and the approaching enemy vessel. Allison's picket boat was hit and sunk, killing him and wounding three of his crew.  

As news of Allison's death reached the residents of Goldendale, offices of the Goldendale Merchants' Association asked buinesses to fly their flags at half-staff on January 18, 1945 in mourning. He was buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, The Philippines. He is also memorialized on the Klickitat County Veterans' Memorial along with thirteen other Goldendale men who lost their lives during the war. Allison was one of thirty-nine pharmacists and student pharmacists who died while on active duty with the U.S. Navy and Marines during World War II. He was survived by his wife, his two children, and two sisters, Mrs. Ray LeClergue (Kathryn Allison) and Miss Dorothy Allison. He posthumously received the Bronze Star for his service in battle.