Quantico Memorial Day Weekend Remembering the Brave Match
The First Eastern Armed Forces Memorial Match is being hosted by the Quantico Shooting Club this Memorial Day weekend. Each year, 14 military service members who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country will be honored at this match. The trophies will bear the names of the service members and the winner of each match. All match entry fees are donated to the Remembering the Brave Foundation, which was founded by Stephen Beck. Steve was a Casualty Assistance Officer in the Marine Corps and is a high power shooter. This match was his idea as a way to remember our fallen heroes.
De Oppresso Liber (“to Liberate the Oppressed”) is the motto of the United States Army Special Forces.
The 1000-yard individual match is named in honor of PO1 Joseph Adam McSween. Adam’s mother Florence was present and spoke to the group of shooters after the match about her son. Adam was killed by enemy action while conducting combat operations in Kirkuk in 2007. he presented the trophy named for her son to the winners. Victor Armenta was first with a score of 199-12x. Jon Howell was one “x” behind for second place and Dave Kerin was third with 198-12x.
The 1000-yard team match is named in honor PO2 Marc A. Lee, the first SEAL to be killed in Iraq in 2006. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart posthumously. The winning team was the Virginia Shooting Sports Association. The individual aggregate match is named for SSG Marc J. Small, a Special Forces Medic, who was killed in Afghanistan last year. His father, Murray, was at the match and spoke about his son’s decision to join the Army. Murray presented the awards to the top three shooters in the aggregate. Jon Howell was the high individual shooter, dropping only three points on the day. Victor Armenta was second and Ken Roxburgh was third.
Story and photo courtesy the NRA Blog and Jan Raab, Nat’l Mgr. of NRA’s High Power Rifle Program.