Allen R. Schindler Jr. was a 22-year-old American Radioman Petty Officer Third Class in the United States Navy who was murdered 30 years ago today on Navy Day while on shore leave in Sasebo, Japan, by his fellow shipmates, who were provoked only by the knowledge of his homosexuality.
Allen R. Schindler Jr. was born on December 13, 1969, in Chicago Heights, Cook County, Illinois, to Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen and Allen Schindler Sr. Allen was the third of four children, and his family was three generations Navy. His grandfather served in WWII, and his stepfather survived the sinking of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Following in their footsteps, Allen enlisted while in his junior year at Bloom High School. After graduation, he shipped out and left Chicago Heights for the first time to serve his country.
Allen was in the Navy for four years. He served on the USS San Jose, the USS Midway, and was serving on the USS Belleau Wood at the time of his death. The USS Midway was Allen’s dream assignment. He described the 11 months he spent on the aircraft carrier as his happiest days in the Navy. The Midway was a relatively tolerant ship where Allen didn’t feel the need to hide being gay.
On the Midway, he saw action in Operation Desert Storm and received a patch for his involvement in the campaign. Allen even extended his four-year tour so he could ride the last voyage of Midway before its decommission and got his own memento — a tattoo of Midway on his arm.
In December 1991, Allen was transferred to the USS Belleau Wood, and the harassment began almost immediately. According to reports, the Belleau Wood gained a reputation for being "the worst ship of all" when it came to homophobia and violence, where there was open hostility towards gay shipmates amongst the 950-plus crew. Newcomers Terry M. Helvey and Charles E. Vins were part of a group on board the ship that routinely harassed shipmates suspected of being gay. Helvey threatened gay shipmates that if they didn’t get out of the military soon, he and his gang were going to personally do something about it, and continued to harass Allen whenever and wherever he could. Allen’s shipmate and friend, Keith Sims, reported Helvey and Vins to the ship’s legal officer, Captain Bernard Meyer, but nothing was done. Instead, Meyer probed into Sims’ sex life. When shipmate Richard Eastman reported being attacked the night before Allen was killed, Meyer took no action to stop the harassment and also probed into his sex life.
Allen was punched, pushed against walls, and repeatedly called homophobic slurs. He told his uncle that sailors had attacked him. Homophobic notes and graffiti were left on his bunk. Sims said they would deliberately spill hot soup on him. When Allen complained to his superiors in March and April of 1992 that his locker was vandalized and he had received multiple death threats, little was done in response. Instead, Douglas J. Bradt, the Belleau Wood Captain, ordered him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, despite Allen not being an alcoholic.
Allen’s complaints continued to go unanswered. By September, he had reached his breaking point and requested to see the captain, but his request was denied. While operating the radio, Allen transmitted an unauthorized statement, "2-Q-T-2-B-S-T-R-8," which read: "Too Cute To Be Straight." The message was heard by much of the Pacific Fleet. Allen described the defiant message in his journal as his way of letting out his "true colors."
On September 24, Allen went to see the Belleau Wood Executive Officer, where he formally declared he was gay and requested an administrative discharge and transfer. Allen told the XO, "If you can’t be yourself, then who are you?" The XO agreed but told Allen he still had to take what was coming to him. Allen also informed Captain Bradt and Captain Meyer. He was told the processing of his discharge would take two weeks, but his superiors insisted he remain on the ship until then. Although Allen knew his safety was at risk, he obeyed orders.
On September 25, Allen was called to appear at a captain’s mast to deal with his unauthorized radio message. He had requested that the hearing be closed for confidentiality, but Captain Bradt disregarded his request and opened the mast to 200–300 crewmen in attendance. Allen made no admission of his homosexuality at the mast. Some shipmates took it as an invitation to harass him with impunity. Allen’s rank was reduced from RM1 to RM3, and he was punished with a 30 day restriction to the ship.
As word of his sexual orientation spread quickly throughout the Belleau Wood, Allen’s friends began to avoid him. Allen confided in his ex-boyfriend, Navy veteran Jim Jennings, how increasingly difficult it was becoming for him to avoid confrontation. On October 2, he wrote in his journal: "More people are finding out about me. lt scares me a little. You never know who would want to injure or cease my existence."
Straight sailors who knew Allen and were concerned for his welfare introduced him to a trio of gay entertainers working near Sasebo; one of the entertainers, Eric Underwood, said Allen told him "people harassed him 24 hours a day" and that he had such a hard time going back to that environment that he had to coax him to the door. When the Belleau Wood was getting ready to leave Sasebo, Allen was reluctant to leave Eric’s room and was trying to stretch out the goodbyes. The next night, he was dead. Entertainer Valan Cain had gone to the public restroom where Allen was slain and found blood all over the walls and inside the urinals. By the next day, someone had left a bouquet of flowers on the floor. "You could see blood streaks almost to the top of the roof," Cain said. Many servicemen interviewed afterward expressed revulsion at the attack. One serviceman remarked, "Whoever did that should hang."
On the morning of October 27, 1992, Allen called his mother and told her he was coming home for Christmas. It would be the last time he would ever speak to her again. Just before midnight, Allen’s mutilated, disfigured body was found sprawled out on a public restroom floor.
Terry M. Helvey and Charles E. Vins stalked and followed Allen into the public restroom, where they ambushed him, then savagely, sadistically, and brutally beat and stomped him to death until he was unrecognizable. His mother could only identify him by the tattoo of Midway on his arm. Every organ in Allen’s body was destroyed. His face and head were caved in, and he had shoe prints imbedded into his face and chest. The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Allen said it was the worst case he’d ever seen in his whole career, even worse than a case of a man trampled to death by a horse, and compared the damage done to Allen’s body to that of a high-speed car crash or a low-speed airplane accident.
Captain Bradt, who tried to keep the murder quiet and had threatened Allen’s shipmates, was sent to shore leave in Florida. For testifying against Helvey, Vins was given a four-month sentence, of which he only served 78 days. Helvey was given a life sentence, but since 2002, he has been eligible for parole. He was denied parole on March 7, 2022.
Allen Schindler’s case became synonymous with the debate concerning LGB members of the military that had been brewing in the United States, culminating in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Allen’s mother, Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen, after learning the truth about her son’s death and the Navy’s subsequent coverup, became one of the most outspoken and sought-after advocates for gay rights to serve openly in the military. In 2011, the DADT policy was repealed, allowing LGB servicemen and women to serve openly in the military for the first time.
Allen Schindler loved the Navy and was a proud sailor who volunteered to fight for his country — to lay down his life if he had to. He didn’t sign up to die to advance gay rights, but that is ultimately what happened. It was brave of him to come out when he did in the environment that he did, and he died because of it. He was a hero.
