Three Generations of Service

The newest addition to this family tradition leaves for Fort Sill, Oklahoma to complete Basic Training on June 21, 2002. Duncan MacQueen IV is a Junior at Del Val Regional High School in Frenchtown.

According to the proud father, SFC Duncan MacQueen III, his father ( the grandfather of Duncan MacQueen IV), was in the Essex Troop back in 1939 when the unit still trained as a horse cavalry. Duncan MacQueen II was a veteran of WW II, following the Presidential Activation of the 102nd in 1940. In fact, the 102nd is one of only four New Jersey units with the Normandy battle streamer awarded for participation in the D-Day landings and the ensuing battle of Normandy, the largest land battle in the history of warfare. The MacQueen family service also extends to a cousin, John MacQueen, killed in action at St Lo while serving with the 102nd.

The MacQueen men, father and son both, are active in re-enactment groups; Duncan MacQueen III in a mounted troop which sports the same uniform worn by the First New Jersey Cavalry during the Civil War; and Duncan MacQueen IV with the 44th Infantry Division, a World War II unit deeply rooted in New Jersey. Duncan III is also an accomplished bugler, a skill taught him as a pre-schooler by his father. He has demonstrated his bugling skills at any number of public events, re-enactment’s, and military ceremonies to include the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard’s Annual Military Review and Awards Ceremony at the National Guard Training Center in Sea Girt.

Duncan MacQueen the III still has a cherished photo of his father standing guard duty at the Westfield Armory back in the days when that armory was headquarters to units of the 102nd. The Westfield Armory is still active today serving as Headquarters for the 250th Signal Battalion.