Biography
Ernest "Buck" McQueen, born Ernest Johnson Jr., was a Vietnam-era Marine Corps deserter who walked away from the Marines in November 1969 after learning about the My Lai massacre and fearing deployment to Vietnam. He did not adopt a wholly new identity but lived under his mothers married surname (which appeared on his Social Security card), working as a carpenter in Fort Worth, Texas, for roughly 36 years while concealing his prior military service from two successive wives and two children. In January 2006 the Marine Corps located him after his former brother-in-law disclosed his whereabouts to investigators. McQueen was 55 at the time of his apprehension. Unlike Jerry Texiero, who was held five months at the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida, McQueen was discharged from custody without disciplinary action. (Source: Banderas News, June 2006.)
