Moving just over 100 miles just got easier for a 100-year-old World War II veteran.
An Oklahoma moving company is picking up the tab for Charles Truett Allred, who turned 100 on May 28, and his wife of 76 years, Marilyn Riley Allred, KOTV reported.
The Allreds are moving from Broken Arrow to Oklahoma City to be closer to family members.
“Our granddaughter lives pretty close there and we’re up here by ourselves, I mean, no family,” Charles told the television station.
When You Move Me general manager Jackie Darrough, who is also a veteran, learned about Charles Allred’s military service, it was easy to waive the costs.
“He sacrificed and gave his time for us so now we’re trying to give back as well,” Darrough told KOTV.
According to online military records, Charles Allred was born in Alfalfa, Oklahoma, on May 28, 1923. He was the third child of Clarence and Ellen Allred and worked on his father’s farm, online census records show.
According to the Carnegie Herald in its July 3, 1946, edition, Charles spent 40 months in the Navy as a motor machinist, second class. Thirty of those months were spent overseason, the newspaper reported.
He earned a Navy Unit Commendation award for rescue work done in fire and salvage for Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, an amphibious invasion by the Navy in January 1945. He also was awarded a Purple Heart.
“We made three invasions while I was in service,” Charles Allred told KOTV.
The 1950 census lists the couple as residents of Oklahoma County, where Charles worked as an airplane mechanic.
The Allreds will be leaving the Green Country in northeastern Oklahoma, but their memories will remain.
“I’m just looking, there’s some pictures (Marilyn) dug out from somewhere,” Charles Allred told KOTV.
He will have plenty of time to reminisce in his new home.
You Move Me offers discounts to active military veterans, but Darrough said that the Allreds were special.
“Once you’re in the military, there’s a type of brotherhood and sisterhood for it, so if you have the opportunity to help out, that’s what you’re gonna do,” Darrough told the television station.
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