Roderick R . Allen Roderick Random Allen ( January 29 , 1894 - February 1 , 1970 ) was a Major General in the United States Army , who commanded the 20th and 12th Armored Divisions during World War II . Early life . Roderick Random Allen was born on 29 January 1894 as a son of Jefferson Buffington and Emma Allen in the city of Marshall , Texas . He attended the Texas A & M University and earned his Bachelor of Science in 1915 . Subsequently he entered the army , and in 1916 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant with the 16th Cavalry Regiment . Following the entry of US into the World War , Allen was sent with American Expeditionary Forces under command of general John J . Pershing to the Europe and served there until July 1919 . After return to the US with the rank of captain , he attended Cavalry school at Fort Riley , Kansas and then Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth . Allen was then appointed a battalion commander of the 32nd Armor Regiment . After some time , Allen was transferred back to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , where he was appointed as an instructor . After two years at Fort Leavenworth Staff School , Allen was detached to Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania and then to Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island . His next post was a position in Chief of Staff office at War Department in Washington , D . C . , where he served until July , 1940 . In this capacity , he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant colonel on August 1 , 1938 . Second World War . Then he was appointed an operations officer of the 1st Armored Regiment , located at Fort Knox , Kentucky . In April of the following year , he was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division at Camp Beauregard , Louisiana . On October 14 , 1941 Allen was promoted again , to the rank of Colonel and was appointed a commanding officer of the 32nd Armor Regiment . He spent in this capacity just two months and then was transferred to the 6th Armored Division under command of Major General William H . H . Morris , Jr . and became his chief of staff . On April of the year 1942 , Allen was transferred to the 4th Armored Division and was appointed a commander of the Combat Command A . Subsequently , on May 23 , 1942 , Allen was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General , Army of the United States . With his Combat Command A , Allen participated in the several maneuvers including Tennessee ( 1942 ) and California ( 1942 – 43 ) . At the end of January , 1943 , Allen received a temporary rank of Major General and in October of the same year , he was transferred to the recently created 20th Armored Division at Fort Campbell , where he was appointed Commanding officer of the division . Allen stayed in the command until the end of September , 1944 in United States and subsequently was transferred to the 12th Armored Division . Major General Allen assumed the command of freshly incoming 12th Armored Division , which was sent from United States to Liverpool to reinforce US forces in Europe . Allen succeeded Major General Douglass T . Greene in command of the division . Postwar Life . Major general Roderick R . Allen retired from the Army on May 31 , 1954 and lived in Washington , D . C . , where he died at the age of 76 on February 1 , 1970 . He is buried together with his wife , Maydelle Campbell Allen ( 1891 - 1967 ) at Arlington National Cemetery , Virginia . Decorations . Major General Allen´s ribbon bar :