sentences:  After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Allen left the Force as a sergeant and was chosen an area organiser of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers in the year thereafter.Following its merger into the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers in 1947, he became a national officer in 1951.Allen was elected the Union's general secretary in 1962, a post he held for seventeen years until 1979.