If she can’t have justice for her slain soldier husband, she’d at least like a Purple Heart.
New York widow Barbara Allen is battling the National Guard for withholding the military honor from her husband, who was killed in 2005 while serving in Iraq.
First Lt. Lou Allen, 34, from Orange County, died in 2005 when a Claymore landmine, followed by three grenades, detonated in the building where he had been talking with Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30.
The two men were allegedly the victims of “fragging” — killed by a disgruntled soldier under their command.
But the accused soldier, Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, 45, was found not guilty of both murders at a military trial in 2008.
Allen’s family later found out that during the investigation, Martinez had offered to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a lifetime prison sentence instead of the death penalty. Military prosecutors rejected his plea and proceeded to trial, but a jury did not convict him.
“We are all left dangling here. Officially, nobody has been named as my husband’s killer, but everybody knows what happened,” said Barbara Allen, now a single mother to four boys.
Lt. Allen’s death isn’t considered the act of an enemy combatant by the military — but his wife disagrees.
“I’m not going to go away,” she said. “I’m just going to keep plugging until something works.”