Petition seeks justice for Lou Allen

CHESTER — Barbara Allen, the widow of Chester native 1st Lt. Lou Allen, has started a petition to urge the Obama Administration to expand the definition of “enemy combatant” or “enemy” to include any American soldier "who willfully kills or conspires to kill a fellow American soldier."

This new subcategory would be titled "unconventional enemy," and allow service member victims of such enemies to be awarded the Purple Heart.

"This change would retroactively apply to all post 9/11 incidents," the petition states. "Identifying such soldiers allows for training that would have prevented needless deaths, and will aid in the prevention of similar deaths."

To sign the petition, follow this link:

http://wh.gov/zroT
Lou Allen was born and raised in Chester. At the time of his deployment, he was teaching at George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo and his family lived in Milford, Pa.

An eight-year fight, and counting

First Lt. Louis Allen and Capt. Phillip Esposito from the New York National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division were killed on June 7, 2005, when an anti-personnel mine detonated in a window of their room in Tikrit, Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez was charged and tried on murder charges. He was acquitted in December 2008.

Since that time, Barbara Allen has been fighting to get her husband's death declared a hostile death so that he may qualify for a Purple Heart. She wrote a personal memoir, "Front Toward Enemy," about her struggle to cope with Lou's death, the surreal drama of the military trial, and the trial's aftermath.

Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam veteran John Baca and several other Vietnam vets will kick off the cross-country “Run for the Wall” ride in a van decked out with pictures of the Allen family and encourage people to go online to sign the White House petition.

"Barbara Allen is a great friend of mine," writes Christine Koening on her Barb's Petition Launch Facebook page. "She fights for this issue because she believes it is a first step in getting the military to start to address, identify and help soldiers who may not be fit to serve, she fights for this issue for her four sons, so that they know she has done everything she possibly can to bring justice for the murder of their father and she fights for the memory of her husband Lou."

On Allen's blog, http://justiceforlou.blogspot.com, she posted the following to answer the question of "why I continue to pursue this overwhelming work" by posting the schoolwork of one of her four sons — a copy of this letter he sent to the president. "I excluded his name and school, and left the rest the same," she wrote. The letter follows:

"Dear President Obama,
"I am a student at _________. I want to tell you a concern I have about America, which is based on court.

"The reason I chose this is because of my dad, mainly. He was a brave soldier in Operation Iraq Freedom, but murdered by an American traitor while he was in his shelter. The traitor was brought to court, with a lot of my relatives. He was called innocent, and was not brought to justice. And that is why I wrote. If you can do something to help me, I will be elated.

"Thank you for reading this letter. You are a trustworthy leader and I know you will try your best to make me happier."