Date:
2007/09/16
Terry and Katie Allen kept their engagement secret for months, Katie hiding her ring on the chain she wore with Terry's dog tags.
They knew their families might object. Both were under 21 and because Terry was a Marine stationed in Iraq, where Katie first contacted him through a pen-pal program, the couple had only met face-to-face three times.
"Everybody was going to say, 'What are you two thinking?'" said Katie Allen, now 18, describing the evolution of a love forged through letters, phone calls and all-too-brief visits. "The first time I met (his family) I was 'girlfriend,' the second time I was 'fiancee,' and the third time I was 'wife.'"
Now, Katie Allen is a widow.
Cpl. Terry Allen, 21, of Pennsauken, Camden County, was killed early
Satur
day in Iraq, his family said - just days before he was supposed
to come home for good.
"I still expect him to get off that plane on Tuesday, and I know he's not going to," his wife said yesterday. "It doesn't feel real."
While Katie grieved with her family in Camillus, N.Y., her husband's family and close friends gathered in his home in New Jersey.
"He was the greatest brother you could ask for. We were best friends," said his younger sister, Shannon Allen.
She said their parents, John and Connie Allen, spoke to Terry hours before he was shot in the head by sniper fire while on the Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province