Campaign Groups and Pairs

Three: Second Lieutenant A. N. McQueen, Royal Flying Corps, late Gordon Highlanders, who was killed in action in a combat with hostile aircraft over Cambrai in March 1917, probably a victim of the enemy ace Leutnant Heinrich Gontermann, afterwards the recipient of the “Blue Max” 1914-15 Star (1321 Sjt. A. N. Mc.Queen. 1/6 Gord: Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. A. N. Mc.Queen.) good very fine (3) £600-£800 --- Alexander Norman McQueen (also recorded as MacQueen) attested for the Gordon Highlanders on 17 April 1913 and served with the 1st/6th (Banff and Downside) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 9 November 1914. He no doubt witnessed many of the extraordinary incidents that befell his battalion during the famous “Christmas Truce”. “No shoot to night Jock!” was a regular call of the enemy and prompted several of the friendly meetings that took place in “No Man’s Land”. Indeed so friendly did relations become, that one German soldier caused a major incident when the 1/6th were suddenly visited by the Brigade Commander. Ray Westlake’s British Battalion in France & Belgium 1914 takes up the story: ‘Noticing one of the enemy walking peacefully around and in full view, the Brigadier ordered one man to fire. The rifleman aimed high but the German took no notice. Another shot, this time wide, caused him to look up in surprise. A third and this time more accurate round, ordered by the Brigadier, had the effect of sending the astonished German headlong into a trench. The truce came to an end on 3 January 1915.’ MacQueen was was commissioned Second Lieutenant on 3 June 1915, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in February 1917. He was killed in action while serving as an Observer in a Sopwith 2-seater of No. 70 Squadron on 25 March 1917. Taking off on a dawn patrol with his pilot, Lieutenant J. S. Cooper, at 7.10 a.m., in company with other Sopwiths from the Squadron, the flight was attacked by nine enemy aircraft of Jasta 5 over Cambrai. In the ensuing dogfight, five Sopwiths were brought down, MacQueen’s aircraft crashing behind our lines - Cooper, too, was killed. At least one of these Sopwiths was claimed by the highly successful ace Leutnant Heinrich Gontermann, shortly to be awarded the “Blue Max”, so it not improbable that MacQueen also fell victim to his marksmanship. He is buried in the H.A.C. Cemetery at Ecoust St. Mein, France. Sold with a postcard photograph of the recipient, and copied research.