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Flags on state government buildings will be flown at half staff Thursday in honor of two New York National Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan, including one from Queens.Sergeant First Class Joseph McKay of Cambria Heights was killed Thursday, along with Specialist Mark Palmateer of Poughkeepsie. A third soldier from Michigan was also killed in the attack. The Humvee they were riding in was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.
The 51-year-old McKay, who was born on the Fourth of July, joined the Guard in 1977 and was a member of the 101st Cavalry based in Jamestown, about 50 miles from Buffalo. His unit was responsible for training the Afghan National Army.
"Nobody forced him to go. He just loved the military, he just loved it," said a friend of McKay, Newton Baptiste.
But for his family, the Fourth of July will never be the same.
"He'd always say that's my day, Fourth of July that's Independence Day, that's my day," said McKay's step-daughter Tanisha Segre.
"Everybody was just worried, from the first day he landed, he told me over here is terrible, over here is not like Iraq," said Baptiste.
McKay had only been in Afghanistan for a few months when he was killed.
"I feel for them because this neighborhood is very close-knit, and when something like this happens it hurts everyone," said neighbor Oscar Edwards.
News of McKay’s death came just a week after another Queens family received news that 36-year-old Andrew Seabrooks of South Ozone Park was killed in Afghanistan.
Five members of New York's National Guard have were killed in the last eight days of June.
Three others were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last Saturday, including Seabrooks.
