Bill Queen

Bill Queen (April 22 1950 - January 15 2009) was a United States Army Special Forces soldier and a recipient of the United States military's Silver Star—for his actions during the Vietnam War as Recon Team (RT) member and leader in the covert Studies and Observations Group. Queen was a member of RT Kansas during the infamously lopsided battle against an overwhelming number of North Vietnamese Army Regular troops in the A Shau Valley of South Viet Nam. On August 7 Queen and the other team members of "RT Kansas", a small Special reconnaissance unit, manned by USASF "Green Berets" and highly trained Montagnard commandos from TF1AE (Task Force One Advisory Element) aka "CCN" (Command & Control North), a division of Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) in the Second Indochina War.
North Vietnamese Army Combatant Forces==
Queen's Special reconnaissance team had landed and secured their position for the overnight mission almost within sight of the Hanoi High Command's most critical new venture of late 1971, the first six-inch fuel pipeline laid across the Vietnamese DMZ, which was absolutely essential a few months in the future when entire tank battalions rolled through the area for the Vietnam War's largest offensive. The 304th NVA Division was already massing there, plus a regiment of the 308th Division, in preparation for the 1972 Easter Offensive.
Biography
Queen joined the Army from his birth state of Texas, and by August 7 1971 was serving as a member of Special reconnaissance team (RT) Kansas, a mixed unit of U.S. Army Special Forces and Montagnard commandos from Task Force One Advisory Element (TF1AE), also known as Command & Control North (CCN) with MACV-SOG (name changed in March 1971 to "TAG" U.S. Army (Training Advisory Group). During an enemy attack on that day, in an assembly area of the North Vietnamese Army in the A Shau Valley of the Republic of Vietnam, Loren D. Hagen was in command of the small Special reconnaissance team's defense. When SGT Berg was hit by a rocket in one of the team's bunkers, Hagen crawled towards Berg's position through heavy fire in an attempt to assist Berg. Bill Queen was wounded multiple times during the battle, but survived until January 2009, when he succumed to complications of his wounds. Queen will be buried with high honors at Arlington National Cemetary.
Other members of Recon Team Kansas were:
SGT Tony "Fast Eddie" Andersen (?), USASF
SGT Oran Bingham, USASF
1LT Loren "Festus" Hagen, USASF
SGT Bruce Allen Berg, USASF
SGT William "Bill" Rimondi,
and eight Montagnard Commandos
(no names available).
Awards and decorations
*90px  Combat Infantryman Badge
*60px Parachute Badge
*60px  Silver Star
*60px  Purple Heart
*60px  Army Commendation Ribbon
*60px  Army Air Medal
*60px  National Defense Service Medal
*60px  Vietnam Service Medal
*60px  Vietnam Campaign Medal
*60px   2001, Studies and Observations Group
* Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation 10px
*100px  Army Special Forces Tab
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