Mc Donald, Allen

Description

Alan Mc Donald was born in Rye on 22-Feb-08, the son of Mary and Joseph McDonald. His father was born in Massachusetts and was a carpenter, his mother was born in Ireland and came to the U. S. in 1899 and was a homemaker. Alan had and older brother Joseph Jr. and two younger sisters Mary and Betty and they lived at 53 Midland Avenue.

He attended Rye Schools and was a member of the Church of the Resurrection, the Holy Name Society and served as lieutenant in Poningoe Hook & Ladder Company of the Rye Fire Department.

Allen married his wife in 1932, the former Mabel Corky, and they had son, Allen J. McDonald, Jr. born on December 23, 1933. He was employed by Gristede Brothers of Rye for seventeen years. Allen enlisted in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Allen J. McDonald enlisted in the Army November, 1942, and trained at Fort Monmouth, N, J. , and Drew Field.

In 1941, the laboratories at Fort Monmouth developed the SCR-300, the first FM backpack radio which provided front-line troops with reliable, static-free communications. The labs also fielded multichannel FM radio relay sets e. g. , AN/TRC-1 in the European Theater of Operations as early as 1943. Multichannel radio broadcasting allowed several channels of communications to be broadcast over a single radio signal, increasing security and range and relieving frequency spectrum crowding. FM radio relay and radar are typically rated among the four of five weapon systems that made a difference in World War II

The initial assignment for Fighter Command at Drew Field in June 1941 was the establishment of the Army Aircraft Warning Training Center. The mission of III FC was the organization and training of civilian and military Aircraft Warning Units, and to provide trained cadres of personnel to the Ground Observer and RADAR units activated.

After extensive training at both bases, Alan was assigned to the
Army Signal Corps Air Warning Division and in 1943 was sent to the Pacific. While serving as either a radar or radio specialist, he fell victim to a rare tropical disease. Returning to this country about a year after going overseas, he was treated in government hospitals until honorably discharged and finally brought home to Rye.

The disease Allen J. McDonald contracted finally claimed his life on May 27, 1945, shortly after his discharge.

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