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SMSGT Allen Isaac Brazelton, USAF (retired), age 97, passed away Friday morning, February 25, 2017 at Dove Healthcare-West in Eau Claire, WI. Allen was born in Phillips, WI on February 2, 1920, the eldest and only son of Isaac Adelbert Brazelton and Theresa Gladys Everson. Allen was preceded in death by his wife of 33 years, Annie Dewar Trotter, of Burntisland, Scotland, and his 35-year companion, Lucille Stoll of Mondovi, WI. Allen is survived by his son Colonel (USAF retired) Glenn Allen Brazelton and wife Pamela Modeen Brazelton, of Yorktown, VA, and two grandchildren, LtCol (USAF) Michael Allen Brazelton, and wife Susan Harris Brazelton, of Offutt AFB, NE, and Megan Lee Brazelton, and husband Leroy Potter, of Charlotte, NC. Allen also had six wonderful great-grandchildren, including Jacob “Jake” Allen Brazelton, of James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, Grayson Michael Brazelton, Harper Irene Brazelton, and Payton Grace Brazelton of DeLand, FL, and Jonathan Ross Potter and Ellie Marie Potter of Charlotte, NC. He is also survived by two of six sisters, Sarah Grover of St. Francis, WI, and Dorothy Anderson of Howard, WI, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Allen, also known as “Stub” and named after Allen Jackson, an early Phillips settler, graduated from Phillips High School in May 1937. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at Camp Riley Creek east of Fifield, WI in June 1937 and served for two years. He also worked as a driver and bookkeeper with the Texaco Oil Company in Phillips, and then as a welder and drill press operator with Quam-Nichols Company, in Chicago, IL.
Allen enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Wausau, WI on January, 2 1942. After Basic Training at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, MO, he began a series of moves, as portions of the 94th Bomb Group (H) prepared for deployment to England. In April 1943, he sailed on the Queen Elizabeth from New York City to Gourock, Scotland, just west of Glasgow, spending 4 1/2 days zig-zagging across the Atlantic Ocean. During the course of World War II, Allen was briefly assigned to RAF Earls Colne, just northwest of Colchester in May 1943, and then the 94th Bomb Group (H) moved to it permanent base at RAF Rougham just outside Bury St. Edmunds in June 1943. Allen met his future wife Annie, a Time & Motion Analyst at a barrage balloon factory in Manchester, during a 3-day pass to Edinburgh, Scotland in mid-1943. They married in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1946. In December 1943, Allen was transferred to the 453rd Sub-Depot at RAF Rougham as their First Sergeant, and on 1 January 1944, Allen was promoted to Master Sergeant, just two years after enlisting in the Army Air Corps. In April 1945, he was transferred to the 312th Air Base Group and served as the Group Sergeant Major until July 1945.
After World War II, Allen spent time at Camp McCoy, WI, and then headed back to Europe, serving in Wiesbaden and Trier, Germany, Florence and Naples, Italy, South Ruislip and Alconbury, England primarily as an Administrative NCOIC. Stateside assignments included Cheyenne, WY, Stillwater, OK, Albany and Warner Robins, GA, and Grand Rapids, MI.
After retiring from the USAF in 1968, Allen worked as a scale operator and payroll clerk for McLean Construction Company in Superior, WI from August 1968 until March 1970. Allen moved to Gordon, WI in April 1970 and worked as a bookkeeper and tax advisor until his full retirement in 1984. Allen moved to Mondovi, WI in 1990 and then to Eau Claire, WI in 2009, living at St. Francis Apartments, Heritage Assisted Living, Oakwood Villa Nursing Home, and Dove Healthcare-West. During retirement, Allen regularly succumbed to the generations’ old Brazelton “wanderlust” gene as he travelled extensively to New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Panama, Costa Rica, and Alaska, making his last big trip to Scotland and England in 2009 when he revisited his WWII base at RAF Rougham with his son, Glenn.
Special thanks to Sue Widen and Kathi Neevel, and an array of caregivers at Dove-West, especially Mary Jo Daniels, Diana Wilhelm, Sherry Kluge, and Julie Schwennsen. Interment will be later this spring at Lakeside Cemetery in Phillips, WI.
