Quick transitions between life events have always been part of Merle Allen’s unofficial strategy for most of his life. At BYU’s 1954 graduation dance, the marketing grad, senior class president, and former varsity football player proposed to his sweetheart, Carol Beckstrand. After the MC announced the happy news, Allen says they then rushed to Beckstrand’s parents’ home to “tell her folks so we’d get to them before somebody else did.”
He made another quick transition in 1957 when, only a week after leaving military service in South Dakota, he drove to Arizona and enrolled in law school at the University of Arizona. Allen’s quick decisions and proactive personality have led him to the wonderful life he and his wife have created.
Perhaps the most impressive turnaround Allen ever achieved, though, was graduating from the Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) at BYU in only three years. In 1950, the Truman administration had intervened in North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, effectively beginning the Korean War. As the draft went into effect, men from BYU began to be called up, and Ernest L. Wilkinson, then university president, helped establish BYU’s AFROTC in 1951. “He really went to bat for us,” says Allen. “It was a great political effort and an inspired effort.”
Young men began to join the AFROTC in large numbers, in part because they would be subject to the draft if they didn’t voluntarily enlist. Allen remembers that the AFROTC became “a big item” on campus, observing that at one point it seemed as if half of all male students were part of the corps. “We would wear our uniforms on Friday, and my goodness, everywhere you look, here’s somebody that’s wearing an air force uniform,” he recalls.
Allen, who was in his sophomore year when the AFROTC was established, graduated with one of the first AFROTC classes—one of the only classes to complete the four-year training in three years, doubling up on classes to get it done. Three months after graduation, Allen was called into active duty with the US Air Force and began his one year of pilot training followed by two years as a pilot with the Fourth Strategic Support Squadron of the Strategic Air Command.
From Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, Allen flew numerous missions to locations around the world. He remembers flying to London and refueling at a tiny island hundreds of miles west of Portugal. Once, he was flying through Greenland when he looked at his map and saw it was blank except for one note that read, “You are now flying over uncharted land.” He heard other pilots tell of missions to Ice Island, an iceberg near the North Pole that was home to a US scientific research base.
Allen remembers deeply appreciating the good character of his fellow officers, including former BYU students Morris “Mo” Jackman and 1954 marketing alum Leon Heaps, who had played for BYU’s varsity basketball team.
After completing his three years of service, Allen studied law and joined the firm of Moore, Romley, Killingsworth and Kaplan in Arizona in 1960 before helping establish Udall, Shumway, Blackhurst, Allen and Bentley in 1972.
Maintaining the pattern of quick transitions, Allen and Carol began a mission only three months after Allen’s retirement in 1997. They served at BYU–Hawaii, and Allen taught international business law and business ethics. The couple also served missions to Hong Kong, the Provo MTC, and Cove Fort, Utah. Today Allen and Carol reside in Gilbert, Arizona, and have six children and thirty-two grandchildren.
Allen enjoys traveling, fishing, and staying in touch with his former BYU roommates. “There are not many of us left to tell the story of the BYU–Korean War period,” Allen says. “The Korean War is often referred to as the ‘Forgotten War,’ and the role of the Air Force ROTC at BYU in the 1950s is even more forgotten.”
