Parade entry brings back memories for one alum

Loretta George/Tribune photos Pete Allen begins to take down the seats his classmates will be riding on in the Fort Scott High School Alumni Parade at 5:30 p.m. this evening on Main Street. Allen said he rode on seats in a "deuce and a half" truck like these when in National Guard, following his enlistment in 1958, the year he graduated. Twin brothers and 1958 classmates Howard and Wade Purcell will be assisting in driving and riding in the gunner position on the truck in the parade, which begins at 5:30 p.m. today.

For Pete Allen, driving the World War II era military truck in the Fort Scott High School Alumni Parade tonight will bring memories.

"In 1958, five of my classmates and I joined the National Guard while still in high school," Allen said. "The five of us went into active duty and did basic training at Fort Leonard Wood. We drove these trucks every summer we went to summer camp at Camp Ripley in Minnesota while in the National Guard."

It was a two-day trip and they bivouacked halfway.

"It was part of our training," he said. "The three of the five that went to Fort Wood together (the other two are deceased), we'll be riding on that truck in the parade."

"I'll be driving, Howard Purcell (Garnett) will be riding gunner position and Wade Purcell (now living in Ohio), they're twins, will be assisting driving," he said. "This truck has lasted since 1942...The army and National Guard still uses the truck. It's been used for fuel trucks, kitchens, personnel carriers."

After the war there were hundreds of these vehicles for sale, he said.

"This was the best vehicle for heavy construction after the war," Allen said.

The vehicle in the parade belongs one of the Purcells' cousins, who lives in Yates Center.