Queen commanded the regiment in combat during the Italian campaign and previously fought in the Pancho Villa expedition and on the Western Front in World War I.

In May 1944, Colonel Queen and his regiment deployed to the Italian theater, where they were given noncombat guard duties at air bases until November 26, when they transferred to the 92nd Division, whose Black troops reported to white officers under Major General Edward Almond, at Livorno.

First Lieutenant John T. Letts quoted Almond's remarks: "Your Negro newspapers have seen fit to cause you to be brought over here; now I'm going to see that you suffer your share of the casualties."

First Lieutenant Robert Brown recalled that Almond told the assembled regiment to their faces that "he did not ask for us and he did not need us and that the only reason we were there was because of the Negro newspapers, and since we were there, he was going to make us fight."

[4] On December 15, Queen filed a written request to be relieved from command, declaring, "The treatment the regiment and myself have received during the period attached to the 92nd Infantry Division has been such as to disturb me mentally and has not been such as is usually given an officer of my grade and service."