Allison Ray Jackson was born on December 20, 1921, in Palmyra, Montgomery County, Tennessee. He was the son of Allison Jackson and Annie Kelley Jackson. He was married to Maude Irene Buchanan Jackson. He did not complete his formal education and was inducted into the U.S. Army on July 19, 1942. He received his initial training at Camp Blanding, Florida, where he was assigned to a Special Training Unit because he was unable to read or write. After completing the program, he returned to his regiment. He participated in the Second Army's Tennessee Maneuvers before training at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and later Camp Atterbury, Indiana, in preparation for deployment to England. Throughout his military service, fellow soldier Pvt. Emmett M. Kingston wrote letters home on his behalf.

After completing his training in the United States, PFC Jackson deployed to England with the 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, where he remained until the unit crossed the English Channel following the Normandy campaign. He advanced through France with the division during its drive toward Germany, although no surviving letters document his combat experiences after leaving England. By early November 1944, Jackson's regiment was holding positions near Würselen, Germany, where it endured constant artillery bombardment, enemy tank fire, patrol clashes, and difficult weather conditions. According to his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Jackson was either killed in action or died of wounds on November 8, 1944, during the fighting around Würselen. German forces recovered and buried his remains, which were later reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross. After the war, his body was recovered, temporarily interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Margraten in the Netherlands, and finally returned to Tennessee, where he was reburied at Pleasant View Baptist Church Cemetery, Montgomery County, Tennessee, USA, in 1949.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.oldhickory30th.com