diff --git a/rosjava/src/main/java/org/ros/concurrent/CircularBlockingDeque.java b/rosjava/src/main/java/org/ros/concurrent/CircularBlockingDeque.java
index 20a8f26ef..1e076f5ca 100644
--- a/rosjava/src/main/java/org/ros/concurrent/CircularBlockingDeque.java
+++ b/rosjava/src/main/java/org/ros/concurrent/CircularBlockingDeque.java
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ public T takeFirst() throws InterruptedException {
       while (true) {
         if (length > 0) {
           entry = deque[start];
+          deque[start] = null;
           start = (start + 1) % limit;
           length--;
           break;
@@ -155,7 +156,9 @@ public T takeLast() throws InterruptedException {
     synchronized (mutex) {
       while (true) {
         if (length > 0) {
-          entry = deque[(start + length - 1) % limit];
+          int idx = (start + length - 1) % limit;
+          entry = deque[idx];
+          deque[idx] = null;
           length--;
           break;
         }