Memorial Services Major H.G. "Gene" Duncan, USMC (ret.)
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    Memorial Services Major H.G. "Gene" Duncan, USMC (ret.)

    Memorial Services Major H.G. "Gene" Duncan, USMC (ret.)

    Below received via email today...

    Greetings Everyone,

    Thank You everyone for your thoughts and prayers regarding my father's passing away. I went through dad's e-mail address book and am sending this out to all his contacts.

    The Fort Wayne area memorial service will be held on Monday February 21st, 2011 at 1800 hours. The service will be held at the VA Hospital Chapel. The address for the Hospital is 2121 Lake Avenue, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805.

    The funeral home suggested that any flowers should be delivered to the VA Chapel. In lieu of flowers a donation to Heartland Hospice of Fort Wayne would be appreciated. Hospice did a wonderful job treating and assisting my father daily in his struggle with his illness.

    My father wished that his final resting place would be at Quantico. Arrangements are "in the works" but will be several weeks away. I will send out an e-mail with the details asap.

    Thank you everyone,

    David Duncan


    RIP

    Ellie


  2. #2
    BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Major Gene Duncan, USMC (Retired)

    Major Gene Duncan enlisted into the Marine Corps in February 1950 at the age of 18. He served as a section leader for 81mm mortars in 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in Korea. Discharged four years later as a staff sergeant, he enlisted into the Reserve of the Marine Corps and remained active therein until 1961 when he returned to active duty and augmented into the Regular Marine Corps as a second lieutenant.

    Major Duncan's enlisted billets included administrative clerk, Russian linguist, and 81mm mortar section leader. His officer assignments were tank officer, communications officer, naval gunfire officer, cryptologic officer and ordnance officer. He held eight command billets for a total command time of over eleven years.

    He served two combat tours in the Republic of Vietnam and was twice wounded.

    He retired from active service in June 1979.

    Since retirement Major Duncan has involved himself in writing books of interest to Marines, sister services, and civilians. He is active on the speaking circuit, travelling from base to base, talking to Marines of all grades and jobs, imparting leadership and ethics to our young and not-so-young military men and women, especially Marines. In one period of three years he logged over 80,000 miles in these efforts.

    Major Duncan has been repeatedly referred to as "the Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling of the Marine Corps." At a gathering in August 1990 at a reception at the Commandant's home in Washington, Duncan was publicly praised by General Gray for his contributiohns to the Marine Corps. He was presented a Certificate of Commendation by the Commandant. The certificate reads in part, "Through his wisdom and serious thought on topics such as ethics, honor, leadership, and moral courage, he not only captured the heart and soul of the Marine Corps, but successfully imparted to a new generation of Marines its most valued traditions."

    Major Duncan currently has twelve books bearing his name and he is the publisher of his own works in his company, Gene Duncan Books, in Boonville, Missouri. He also writes a weekly column for a Florida newspaper.

    During Operation Desert Shield Major Duncan appealed directly to the Commandant of the Marine Corps for active duty, stating, "I want to fight in one war which has public approval before I die." He was unofficially told that his impaired hearing might keep him from active duty, but he replied, "I don't want to LISTEN to the Iraqis, I want to SHOOT them." His application was still being considered when Desert Storm ended.

    Duncan holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Florida State University and a Master of Education Degree from Memphis State University.

    He lives in his 1870 house in Boonville, Missouri, a place he calls "Marine Barracks, Boonville," with his aging Black Labrador Retriever, Panzer, and his young Chocolate Lab, Herr Feldmarshal Rommel von Boonville.


  3. #3
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    RIP Major. Never met you but would have been proud to buy you a drink

    Fair winds and following seas Marine



  4. #4
    A great life for a great man. "I don't want to LISTEN to the Iraqis, I want to SHOOT them." - Shows great spirit. I would've loved to buy this man a drink aswell. A father one can be proud of! His soul blessed and at rest in the Hands of God.


  5. #5
    R.I.P. Marine Semper Fi !!!


  6. #6
    Rest In Peace Sir. May God Craddle You In His Arms

    Semper Fi

    Stephen Doc Hansen Hm3 Fmf


  7. #7
    Major Duncan, I'm sorry that I never had the honor to meet you in person, you imparted alot of marine corps wisdom to this marine, which proved invalueable to me during my career in the 'Corps. You will be sorely missed, I enjoyed all of your books, especially, "Run In circles, Scream and shout". God Bless you and your family, Rest in Peace Sir. Oldmarine2011, see you at heavens gate.


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    God Be With You,


  10. #10
    RIP MARINE !!! S/F...GOAT


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    Major Duncan's eulogy, as delivered by Captain Tom Moore :


    EULOGY:
    David, I want you to know I am very much honored to have been asked to deliver this eulogy.

    There are only a handful of people who come into your world, and touch your life in a dramatic fashion. Some of the people are
    just flickers of light during a long life, while others are a consistent glow of light for years. For me, Gene Duncan was my consistent glow of light.

    I’m sure there is no way of calculating the number of Marines who have benefited from his advice, council, his writings, and his
    leadership by example, but I’ll bet it must be in six figures.

    The Secretary of the Navy called him the Rudyard Kipling of the Marine Corps. Which calls to mind one of Kipling’s quotes that seems to fit on this occasion.
    “For that little, little time the dead are borne in mind,
    Seek not to question other than the books I leave behind.”

    I first met him in 1961 when he checked in to the 1ST Tank Battalion out in Camp Las Pulgas. Although he was senior to me as a 2ND Lt. (former Gunnery Sgt,) and I was a brand-new Warrant Officer (former Staff Sgt.) we hit it off right away. That was 50 years ago!

    I can honestly say, Major Gene Duncan is the finest friend I ever had in all of my 76 years on this earth. There are only a few people who have walked into my life and changed it forever. My late wife, four wonderful kids and Gene... He gave me the opportunity to open up to somebody. He was the first person outside of family I enjoyed spending time with. He is my best friend. He taught me that life is short, and the most important part of life is the people in it. I will be grateful for his teachings forever.

    He used to tell people, “Tom and I have been friends for forty something years and there has never been a cross word between us.” That’s more or less true however I recall a conversation over breakfast in a Cracker Barrel Restaurant somewhere between Kansas City and Camp Lejuene when, after he made some remark I said, I wish Florida State University had never given you that degree in psychology. He asked why and I responded… “Because you have been psycho-analyzing me for 44 years and I’m getting kinda fed up with it!” Weeelll, we laughed long and hard at that… so I guess you cannot consider those “cross words.

    ”For quite a few years, we traveled together to various Marine Corps Installations giving motivational talks and leadership lectures. He once told me he figured we had about 16,000 miles in a vehicle together and if we were able to put all the laughing we shared in one long string it would last for at least a year. I’m reminded because of that Cracker Barrel remark… He always insisted we stop there for breakfast because they served grits and he knew I couldn’t stand the darned stuff.


    Just a couple of days after he received the news he had a terminal illness he and 3 or 4 other Marines and myself were sitting around a table on the rear deck of his home in Fort Wayne when he suddenly reached into his pocket and handed me a one hundred dollar bill. I asked, “What’s this for?” He said “For the bet we made at the camp Hansen Officers’ Club in 1965 the night before you left for Viet Nam.” He continued his explanation, “We made a bet on which one of us was going to die first, and it looks like I lost!”

    Let me give you another example of what a unique individual he was: Father Loux, the Catholic Chaplin at the Fort Wayne V.A. Hospital came to his home every Monday to give Gene the sacrament of Holy Communion. On the Monday he died, Father Loux was with him and told us, he was preparing communion on a TV table and Major Gene Duncan’s last words were, “Hey, Father, you’d better hurry up, I’m not feeling too good!”
    Gene served on active duty for 29 years and eight or nine months. When asked, “Why didn’t you do the full 30 years?” his response was classic, “Weeelll I found it just wasn’t my cup of tea.”

    I want to extend condolences from my family to yours, David, to Kimberly and the boys, Emory, Keaton and Reis. And let you know your father spoke of you often, David and was extreamly proud of the man you have become and the wonderful family you and Kimberly have raised. You have a great number of people who love you and will be there for you if ever we are needed. Some of those friends are people like Joe Fenic who was with


    your dad when he suffered that terrible wound in Viet Nam, “Big” Buddy Urbansky another Marine who has always thought your father had something to do with the sun rising in the morning, SgtMaj. Grant Beck

    who loved you dad as I do. Col. Casey from our old 1st Tank Battalion days, Col. Ed Cercone, another Tanker who benefitted from your dad’s knowledge and advice. Steve Betz who, you know served with and was Duncanized by your father on Okinawa, LtCol Ty Edwards, A real Marine Corps hero who acquired and maintains a great many of your father’s qualities, Harry Heache, and his wife, Dawn, the best neighbors in the entire world, LtCol Gregg Lyon and LtCol Ed Jeep who have stayed in constant contact since they first met Gene many years ago. Your dad’s very good friend and admirer, Marywether Ball. The honorary Marine Drill Instructor and the most compassionate nurse in the entire world, Joann Dever. A couple of retired, New York City Detectives, John Kelly, and Tommy Nerney a pair of Marines from “The Old Corps. And so many others David, all over the world I couldn’t possibly mention them all.
    Back in the spring of 1979, Gene informed me he was planning to retire; I pondered that news for a while and thought to myself… “You poor paltry souls out there in the civilian world have no idea of what you are about to experience.” We were writing “Green Side Out” at that time and I thought perhaps I ought to include a tribute to my old friend in the book and so after a couple of pints of Guinness, I did.



    Here’s to you, Major Duncan
    At your quarters on the beach,
    With your medals on the bulkhead
    And a beer within your reach.

    You served your time and pulled the pin,
    So hang up the canteen dry,
    Many a MARINE will think of you
    As they lift a glass on high.

    I have heard them tell about you,
    With loyalty that could not yield,
    From Quang Tri down to Chu Li,
    Those who fought for you in the field.

    The swords we carried at our sides
    Now lie upon the shelf.
    They’re gathering dust like the rest of us,
    That, of course includes myself.

    Guys like you were born too late,
    But when history was anew,
    You could have marched with Washington
    Or even fought at Waterloo.

    When leadership, not politics
    Brought promotion as reward,
    You did the job and carried the load,
    Although that task was hard.

    I salute the close of a great career,
    The best field MARINE of all.
    We shall keep your memory ever green,
    Until we form for our last call.

    And when we get that marching order
    And we’re told that it’s our time,
    You’ll fall in at the head of the outfit
    And just to the right of the line.

    For, that’s where we always found you.
    And that’s where you’ll ever stay,
    In the front of your MARINES
    When they need you, and leading ‘em going away.




    So here’s a toast to you Major Duncan,
    Your last bugle call has blown.
    Here’s to you Major Duncan,
    The best of the MARINES I have known!


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