 1908 - 1975 (66 years)
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| Name |
Lawrence Edmond (Larry Allen) Finzel |
| Birth |
19 Oct 1908 |
Mt. Savage, Maryland  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
12 May 1975 |
Mexico City, Mexico |
| Notes |
- Lawrence Edmond (Larry Allen) FINZEL was born on 19 Oct 1908 in Mount Savage, Allegany Co., Maryland. He died on 12 May 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico. Larry Allen, the Mt. Savage man who gained fame as a correspondent for the Associated Press and who died Monday in Mexico City, Mexico, at his home there, was buried Friday in Grove Hill Cemetery, Dallas. While covering a Haitian revolution in 1937, he married the former Helen Fazakerly Quinsberry of Dallas who died in Mexico City in 1963. He is survived by two brothers, James Finzel of Midlothian and Raymond Finzel, Key West, Fla.; and two stepdaughters, Mrs. Frank Trammel of Richardson, Texas, and Mrs. Philip Miner Jr. of Houston. Larry Allen, who was born Lawrence Edmund Finzel, on October 19, 1908, in Mt. Savage, was the son of the late Lawrence and Carrie (Crowe) Finzel. He changed his name to Lawrence E. Allen as a young man. After graduation from Beall High School in 1926 where he was the first editor of the school newspaper, the Beall High Chime, he began his career as a reporter in Charleston, W. Va. and joined the AP in 1933. During his career with the AP he became one of the most decorated American foreign correspondents. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Bronze Star in 1945 for his war-time experiences; King George VI of England presented him the Order of the British Empire in 1947 for his coverage of the British fleet in World War II in Indochina and in 1952 the French awarded the Croix de Guerre for his reporting of the war there. Allen survived eight sinkings of warships although he never knew how to swim, was a prisoner of the Italians and then the Poles in World War II and was attacked by a rioting mob in Singapore. After joining the AP in 1933, he was assigned to Washington to cover the White House and Congress in 1935. His first assignment as a correspondent was to Czechoslovakia in 1938 as Nazi armies were moving in. Later that year he moved to Spain for and in 1952 the French cornin the final months of the Spanish civil war. When World War II broke out, Allen was transferred to Rome but when Italy joined Germany in the Axis effort, Allen flew to the Alexandra, Egypt, base for Britians's Mediterranean fleet. After one of the eight sinkings he survived Allen was picked up by an Italian vessel and held prisoner for 11 months. He escaped three times but was caught and returned. The last time he was within five miles of the safety of the Swiss border when he was spotted by German soldiers. He was then sent to a prison camp for United States Army officers in Poland and was later repatriated to the United States. Allen returned to Europe in 1945 and was one of the first foreign correspondents to be stationed in Poland where he reported the takeover of the country by the Communists. From there he went to Moscow, as bureau chief, Tel Aviv, Singapore and in 1951 went to Vietnam to cover the French-Indochina War. He covered the 54-day battle that ended with the defeat of the French. From 1955 to 1959 Allen was a roving correspondent in the Caribbean and South America. He was in Havana when Fidel Castro defeated the regime of Fulgencio Batista. He resigned from the AP in 1959 to start a news service in Mexico after having served as a correspondent in more than 100 countries. The Cumberland Sunday Times, May 18, 1975
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| Person ID |
I06762 |
McKenzie Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
29 Oct 2021 |
| Father |
Lawrence Bernhardt Finzel, b. 8 Aug 1873, Finzel, Garrett County, Maryland d. 19 Jan 1919, Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland (Age 45 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Mother |
Mary Caroline (Carrie) Crowe, b. 2 Sep 1870, Maryland d. 26 Aug 1937, Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland (Age 66 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Marriage |
1901 |
| Family ID |
F03601 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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