They're Back!
Marine Unit Arrests Another Long Term AWOL: This Time It's a Texas Veteran Who Allegedly Left 37 Years Ago

(More info: Tod Ensign, Citizen Soldier, (212) 679-2250)

Ernest "Buck" McQueen, 55, was arrested by Ft. Worth, TX police on Wednesday, January 11th at the request of the Marines' Absentee Collection Center. McQueen served in the Marine Corps for nearly two years, from 1968-69. His decision to refuse further service was influenced by the disclosure of the My Lai massacre, in which US troops killed 500 Vietnamese civilians.

After leaving, McQueen lived in Indiana and then moved to Texas, working mostly as a carpenter and cabinet maker. He married, had a son and a daughter and then divorced about ten years ago.

Like the just-concluded case of Marine Corporal Jerry Texiero, of Tarpon Springs, FL, who was arrested after 40 years AWOL, McQueen's arrest was requested by a special Pentagon unit that searches for long-term AWOLs.

McQueen's arrest was first reported in a front-page story in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram on Monday, January 14th. He is being held in a local jail awaiting transfer to a Marine brig. If tried for desertion, McQueen could receive a five year prison term and Dishonorable discharge.

"The Marines are trying to send a message to their troops in Iraq that deserters will always be hunted down and prosecuted even forty years after they resist," said Tod Ensign, Legal Director of Citizen Soldier, a GI/veterans rights advocacy group.
Ensign pledged that his group would support McQueen by helping to organize his legal and political defense.