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By Bill Van Tassel
When Marie Duncan is asked about her husband’s long career with helicopters, her response is simple. “He just loved helicopters.”
Robert Duncan, from North Turner, who died April 26, was a helicopter mechanic for many years, first with the U.S. Army, where he was a sergeant 1st class, then the National Guard, and finally with Lifeflight out of Central Maine Medical Center.
Duncan also served in the military, and after his death in April, a special group showed their appreciation.
Duncan was one of those mechanically inclined people who could take apart anything and put it back together in better shape than when he had received it. Although his main love was fixing helicopters, his general knowledge of mechanics found him a short stint with and auto dealership in his home state of Vermont. He also spent some time with an Armored Tank Division in Lyndonville, Vt.
Born on Christmas Day in St. Johnsbury, Vt., Duncan joined the Army in 1957. When honorably discharged in 1963, he joined the National Guard in Lyndonville, and later the Air Guard in Burlington, Vt. He moved to Alabama in 1990, and worked at Ft. Rucker for 10 years as an A&P mechanic on helicopters. Duncan also had a deployment in Manheim, Germany. In 2000 he moved from Alabama to Turner, and was an aircraft maintenance mechanic for Lifeflight in Lewiston and Bangor.
He retired in 2003 because of illness. Before he died in April, Duncan spent four years at Victoria Villa (now Pinnacle Health and Rehab) because of the onset of dementia/Alzheimers disease.
Marie said what happened after her husband died was unexpected. Friends of the Duncans, Skip and Eileen Haines, also of Turner, were involved with the Patriot Guard Riders, a national motorcycle club that honors military veterans in a variety of ways. The Haines suggested to Marie that her husband’s body could be taken by a group of Patriot Guard Riders from Turner back to his family’s hometown cemetery in Vermont.
The Patriot Guard Riders Maine, Chapter 1 was founded in September 2011. Their members come from all walks of life, riders and non-riders, veterans and non-veterans, united in honoring and showing their respect for veterans.
Marie, though surprised, agreed that the procession could take place.
On July 21 a large group of Riders from Maine met in North Turner and began the first leg of the trip to New Hampshire. Another group leader and procession took over there and accompanied the Army Veteran to the Vermont border where the final group of the Patriot Guards led the Honor Ride contingent to a hillside cemetery in West Barnett, Vt., where a service was held.
PHOTOS: Robert Duncan, a sergeant in the Army from 1957 to 1963, and then the National Guard, spent much of his life working on aircraft, with his specialty being helicopters, military or otherwise. (Submitted Photo)
