Hyde Park family remembers fallen soldier, Michael Allred

By Angeline Olschewski

A framed photo of their son rests on the shelf, next to the folded and framed flag that draped his casket. Lance Cpl. Michael Allred was killed on Labor Day 2004 in Iraq while serving with his Marine unit.

Hyde Park has not forgotten him. The City Council asked residents for input on the newly allocated S.R. 237. At the public hearing many requested that 250 East be renamed Michael Allred Boulevard.

"We appreciate that they want to honor Michael," said Brent Allred, Michael's father.

Michael was killed just four months before completing his contract with the Marines. The news channels had already broadcast that there were seven American casualties from a bombing in Iraq, but no names were released immediately.

The Allreds were out of town for the holiday weekend and were taking a scenic detour home when their cell phone rang. It was their oldest son, Brad.

"He asked if I can hear him, and I said, 'Yes,'" Zell Allred, Michael's mother, recalled. "He said, 'Pull over right now.' So we pulled over and he said, 'Mom, there are two Marines looking for us.' And it didn't register. I asked, 'What do they want?' and he said, 'It has to do with Michael.'

"That was the longest drive from Kamas to Logan," Zell said. "We never imagined he wouldn't come home, probably because he'd already been once and come back."

When the city heard the news, the Boy Scouts gathered the flags they had put in residents' yards to mark Labor Day, and placed them all in the Allreds' front yard.

When they arrived home, the family had only enough time to have family prayer before the Marines arrived with the news that Michael was one of the casualties that day.

"They were going out on a two-day patrol to patrol a stretch of freeway that the insurgents used," recalled Brent. "A suicide bomber in a small truck pulled up along side his truck and set off the bomb."

Of 14 soldiers involved in the patrol, 10 were casualties of that explosion: seven Marines and three Iraqi soldiers. Brent explained that Michael had already completed one tour of duty the first time Marines were sent in 2003, but anticipated being called up again before his contract ended.

"He was worried about going back that time," remembered Zell. "He said that the first time they knew who the enemy was, but this time they blended in."

Still, Michael was proud to serve. "He said, 'We need to be here,'" she added. "'It's going to be a long hard road but we need to be here.' He believed very strongly in what he was doing."

"His comment was, 'We were over there for the right reason doing the right thing for the right people,'" Brent added.

It will take a while for the city to decide about the name change for 250 East. Until then, the family hopes people will remember Michael's love of country, and what kind of man he was.

"He was willing to do anything to protect his family and their rights, and the rights of those he didn't know," said Adam Allred, Michael's youngest brother. "Anybody who came up to us at the funeral said Michael was a good Marine, but he was a better friend.

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