Doris "Lucki" Ilda Allen (1927–2024) was a physical education teacher from

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

who joined the US Army in its

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC; ) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), on 15 May 1942, and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United S ...

(WAC) in 1950. She became a military intelligence specialist and did three tours of duty in Vietnam. For predicting the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

and her other achievements, she was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2009.

Early life and education

She was the youngest of five children of Richard and Stella Allen who worked as a barber and cook, respectively. She studied physical education at the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

and, after graduating, taught at a high school in

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the rive ...

for a year before enlisting.

Woman's Army Corps

She auditioned for the WAC band, playing the trumpet but was not accepted. Instead, she played in a show that toured army bases. These included the

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...

where she played with

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

. She also served in other specialities including information and journalism. Her nickname of "Lucki" came from association with her older sister who was known as "Jinx" for having bad luck, especially with her car. Her sister, Jewel, was also a WAC and commanded her when she was a broadcast specialist at Camp Stoneman.

Vietnam War

Allen then learnt French,

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

and other

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

skills and did three tours of duty in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, starting in 1967. She gathered intelligence and wrote a report which correctly predicted the

ahead of its start in 1968 but this warning was ignored. Her later warnings included an ambush, chemical weapons and rockets and these were more effective. On her third tour, she led a team of forty Vietnamese translators in Saigon that analysed enemy documents. Her name started to appear in the documents as a target for the

Viet Cong The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

and she then decided that it was time to return home.

Post war and retirement

Allen was awarded three

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

s for her service in Vietnam. Back in the US, she became the first full-time female instructor of prisoner interrogation at the Army Intelligence Center and then became a

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

specialist. She retired from the military in 1980 and was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2009. She was the second black woman to get this recognition, following Mary Bowser. After military service, she studied psychology, gaining a doctorate in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...

at the Wright Institute in 1986. In 2014, she wrote her memoir, ''Three Days Past Yesterday: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Incredibility''. Allen and her sister bought a house in the hills of Oakland when they were stationed there in 1968. They both lived there together after retiring from the army; her sister died in 2009. Allen lived in the home until the COVID-19 pandemic, when she moved to an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting i ...

apartment. She died in an

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

hospital on 11 June 2024 at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Doris Lucki 1927 births 2024 deaths African-American female military personnel African Americans in the Vietnam War American military personnel of the Vietnam War Military personnel from El Paso, Texas Women in the Vietnam War Women's Army Corps soldiers Wright Institute alumni