Former Stars and Stripes journalist David Allen shares a laugh with his wife, Ruth Ellen, in this undated photo. (Allen family)

David Allen, a Navy veteran and longtime Stars and Stripes journalist who reported from Guam and Okinawa for nearly two decades, died Thursday after a prolonged battle with cancer, his sister Katherine Krais announced that day to his Facebook page. He was 79.

Allen served as the independent military newspaper’s Guam bureau chief between 1991 and 1993, covering several natural disasters, including Omar, a category 4-equivalent super typhoon, between August and September 1992, and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Aug. 8, 1992.

He then spent 17 years as Stars and Stripes’ senior reporter on Okinawa, where he covered topics ranging from a helicopter crash at a local university to protests over the U.S. military presence on Japan’s southern island prefecture.

Born on May 8, 1946, in Charleston, S.C., Allen was raised in Suffolk County on Long Island, N.Y. He served in the Navy from 1966 to 1969.

After his service, Allen headed straight to the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, N.Y., in August 1969. He can be heard playing the kazoo intro to Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” on the iconic concert’s double platinum-selling album. He wrote about the experience in Stars and Stripes in 2009.

Allen’s journalism career spanned 36 years, beginning in 1974. He retired from Stars and Stripes in early 2010 and settled in Chesterfield, Ind., where he pursued a lifelong interest in poetry and led local poetry groups.

Allen is survived by his wife of 36 years, Ruth Ellen, whom he often credited as his “muse”; their children, Matthew and Charlotte; and Ruth Ellen’s children from a previous marriage, Abraham and Annie Beaber. He had 11 grandchildren.

A celebration of life is scheduled for 1 p.m. on July 12 at Millcreek Center Gymnasium in Chesterfield.