The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Community asked to line streets to honor veteran
He was injured on mission looking for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
The July heat was punishing the year Master Sgt. Mark Allen served as the grand marshal for his town’s Independence Day parade. The Purple Heart recipient had been seriously injured in Afghanistan, left wheelchair-bound and unable to speak.
But the Taliban didn’t steal Allen’s spirit.
“He was there, like a fighter,” Loganville Mayor Rey Martinez recalled of the year Allen appeared at the parade. “On that hot July day.”
Now Martinez is hoping his town will turn out today, the day of Allen’s funeral, for a hero’s farewell. “He fought all the way to the end,” Martinez said.
Allen, 46, died Saturday, 10 years after being shot in the head. In addition to his wife, Shannon, he is survived by two children, a grandson and numerous other relatives.
Visitation was held Thurs
day at Tim Stewart Funeral Home, 670 Tom Brewer Road in Loganville. His funeral will be held at 11 a.m. today at First Baptist Church of Snellville, 2400 Main Street East. He will be buried near the marker of a fellow soldier and friend killed in combat.
Community members who would like to pay respects can line U.S. 78 shortly after 10 a.m., when Allen’s body will be escorted from the funeral home to the church.
After the service, supporters can line the path from the church to Corinth Memorial Gardens in Loganville, located on Ga. 81. Officers from the Loganville and Snellville police departments, along with Walton County sheriff ’s deputies, will assist with the procession.
Robert Stokely’s son, Mike, served with Allen in Iraq. After Mike Stokely died in combat in 2005, the Allens became part of the support system that helped the Stokelys cope with his death.
“He and Shannon were just a wonderful couple,” Robert Stokely said.
Mike Stokely, who grew up in Loganville, was first buried at Corinth Memorial Gardens, where he still has a marker. Later, he was moved to Arlington National Cemetery, his father said. After Allen was injured, Robert Stokely marveled at how the family supported their injured soldier, who remained a constant in his community and his children’s lives despite his physical limitations.
“Mark fought to live. Shannon fought to help him live,” he said. “When the time came, he died peacefully, and that’s a blessing.”
Allen was part of a rescue mission on the hunt for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off a U.S. military post and into the Taliban’s clutches in 2009. President Barack Obama negotiated Bergdahl’s release in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban detainees. In 2017, Bergdahl pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He was dishonorably discharged but avoided prison time.