MCCONNELLSVILLE, Ohio—Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Wayt, Ohio adjutant general, and Brig. Gen. Rufus Smith, commander of the 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade presented Bill Allen with the Ohio Meritorious Service Medal and several other awards for his decades of service to the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) during a Dec. 12, 2009, ceremony at the Clarence Miller Armory here.
Wayt commended Allen, who recently retired from the ESGR, for being a strong supporter of 2nd Battalion, 174th.
“It was Bill Allen’s vision to establish the ESGR as we have it today,” Wayt said. “He took it from its infancy and made it into one of the best programs in the whole United States.”
Allen contributed much to the McConnellsville unit. When the project to build military facilities in McConnelsville ran out of money before the armory could be completed, Allen contacted Sen. Clarence Miller, to assist. The armory there stands today in part due to his assistance and it was especially fitting that he should be honored within in that facility. |
The mission of the ESGR is to help create a positive relationship between Soldiers and their civilian employers to help ensure troops that their jobs will be there when they return from deployments. During his time with ESGR, Allen worked to help inform civilian employers of Soldiers rights as provided by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). He also worked to help recognize those civilian employers who support the National Guard and Reserve.
Sometimes he was presented with issues outside the scope of his ESGR duties - like when a deployed Soldier’s spouse had contacted him upset because the family had not received the Soldier’s pay and had no food in the house. Allen responded by sending the family a personal check to tide them over, and then he was able to notify the proper authorities of the family’s plight to fix the pay issue.
“Assisting members of the Ohio National Guard and the Reserve and their employers was my personal contribution to those individuals and our country,” Allen said. “They are among the finest men and women I’ve ever associated with, and I really enjoyed working with them.” |
