HOMETOWN HERO: Paratrooper Queen says 'everybody is infantry when it comes to war'

"You're not very bright if you're not afraid," said Morganton Army veteran Joe Queen. "Have you ever heard of the 8th of November? I was in that battle," he said. Named Operation Hump, the United States 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment were sent on a search and destroy mission to drive out the Viet Cong who had taken up positions on several key hills in War Zone D, a dense jungle area 17.5 miles north of Biên Hòa, Vietnam, a city about 25 miles northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. During the Vietnam War, it was home to the vital Biên Hòa Air Base and adjacent army base camp, serving as a major strategic hub for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. On the morning of November 8, 1965, within hours of beginning their move towards Hill 65, a key objective, U.S. forces were ambushed by some 1,200 Viet Cong fighters dug in on the side of the hill. Napalm filled the air for the next eight hours as U.S. forces took heavy fire from all directions from armaments including 81mm and 82mm mortars, 57mm and 75mm recoilless rifles, 50 caliber and 30 caliber machine guns and flame throwers. Enemy units were capable of assembling 8,500 soldiers within a 48-hour period. In the end, 49 U.S. Solders and between 400 and 700 Viet Cong were killed. "I had a buddy that was killed. It's hard for me to talk about it," Queen said. He added, "I went through therapy for 20 years. They push for you to talk about it. The more you talk about it, that's a way to come out of it. I'm not all that sure it works that well. I have trouble at times. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't." Queen spent 10 months at Biên Hòa. He served two years in the Army. He was drafted in February 1964 at age 20 out of Michigan. "In two years, I hit six duty stations. That's unreal," Queen said. His duty stations included Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training, Fort Gordon, Georgia for advanced individual training, Fort Riley, Kansas, Fort Benning, Georgia for paratrooper jump school, Okinawa, Japan, and Vietnam. He was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade upon arrival in Okinawa in late 1964. He was in A Company with 125 soldiers. He served as a combat engineer on the demolition team. However, whatever they were called upon to do like demolition or fight, they did it. "Everybody is infantry when it comes to war, and you got to be prepared," Queen said. Almost immediately after arriving in Biên Hòa, he was attached to a Fifth Special Forces A-Team at Song Bé, Vietnam for roughly three months. At Song Bé, he and four others were cliffside overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which he didn't know at the time. They observed a convoy ambush. Artillery illumination rounds lit the area all night. "Artillery would set off a round and you could hear it coming. Poof. And a parachute came out. It was like daylight," Queen said. Two men were killed. He doesn't know what their mission was. "Special forces usually go in and do the dirty stuff," he said. Because it was a bump in pay, he became a paratrooper. He saw no combat jumps in Vietnam. At Fort Benning jump school, he did two tower jumps of 34 and 250 feet. He was hoisted up in an open parachute and then released. His first aircraft jump was from a C-119. "Aeronautical engineers said it couldn't get off the ground," Queen said. He describes it as calm and misty jump. "It was like you could see particles of air," Queen said. He had a soft landing with no wind. His parachute settled over him. "You may not believe this, but I was not nervous or scared," Queen said. He jumped five more times. His third jump nearly made him quit. "I'm not a quitter. I just can't swallow that. I hit the drop zone. That's all I can say," he said. He describes jumping as noisy. The jump master is at the end of the plane where the door is. Using hand gestures, the master says stand up and hook up to the static line. The static line pulls the parachute out of the backpack moments after you jump. After hooking to the line, jumpers fold the line with their hand to make sure it doesn't get tangled up. There's a red light. When it turns green, they run and jump. "I look back and I think, 'I can't believe I did that,'" Queen said. Soldiers jumped with multiple bags of equipment weighing roughly 175 lbs. One bag was a backup parachute attached to the chest. "There's an old saying that says, 'if anybody can jump from an airplane, you can trust them to do anything,'" Queen said. Paratroopers were trained to be able to jump behind enemy lines prepared to put pain upon the enemy. "That's not being silly. That's just telling the truth." Queen said. He had three proficiency jumps in Vietnam. One from a Huey helicopter and one was from a Chinook two rotor helicopter. He had one jump from a CV-2 Caribou glider style plane with a propeller. Born in McCaysville in 1943, Queen is one of eight children to father Earl and mother Pearl. His older brother Bob served two years in the United States Marine Corps. The family moved to Michigan when he was around seven because Earl took a job there. He grew up in Southgate, Michigan. He attended Riverview High School. He played baseball and football in school. "Let's not say I played," Queen said. Earl was a deacon of their church a gardener, and a strong influence. His father taught him a lesson later in life about gardening. He said when plowing, pick an object ahead and concentrate on that and never look back. Keep focused on your goal. Queen later wrote about that life lesson. "Keep focused on where you want to go. Don't look back on the past because you can't change it. Focus on where you want to go. If you've got a goal in life that you'd like to attain, go for it. Don't look back on your mistakes so much. Just go for it," Queen said. Earl also taught him to live by example. His mother Pearl was a housewife. She canned food each season. The family always had food on the table. His mom would often say, "We're gonna have a good winter because I got so many jars of corn and so many jars of beans. Or it's going to be a tough winter because we don't have much," he said. In the Queen house, hospitality was important. "We had company for dinner. People would come by for a cup of coffee and a piece of cake," Queen said. Each year, Queen invites somebody to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. "I try to pick somebody that maybe is destitute or a friend," he said. After leaving the Army February 7, 1966, he returned to Michigan. He met his wife the day before Memorial Day 1966. They married July 30, 1966. He has two children: daughter Cheri and son Darren. In Michigan, he was hired by the Wabash Cannonball Railroad in 1966 as a fireman. He was promoted to engineer December 18, 1968 at age 25. He and his family moved to Fannin County in 1979 where he spent his summers with family. He ran multiple successful businesses before retiring 20 years ago. He now spends time gardening and watching University of Georgia and University of Michigan football. "I'm a Wolverine and a Bulldog. More Bulldog than anything," he said. Queen often looks back on his service. If he had a choice, he would have liked to stayed in special forces. "I liked their duty. For instance, one night I stood guard duty with the guy and he and I talked. Next day, I found out he was a Major. He didn't pull a rank on me. In a leg unit, that ain't gonna happen," Queen said. The military taught Queen discipline. It also taught him life lessons. "It taught me to respect rank and the position a person's in. You don't have to like the person," Queen said. He added, "You must respect what's on his sleeve." He said there are going to be people in your life you don't like. He's humble when describing his service. "I don't think I stand out. We got several thousand at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 82nd Airborne. We got a few left in the 101st," he said.

HOMETOWN HERO: Paratrooper Queen says 'everybody is infantry when it comes to war'

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