U.S. Olympic pistol squadding finished

Marine Lt. Col. William McMillan, Turtle Creek, Penn., and Army SFC James McNally, Columbus, Ga., completed the four-member U.S. pistol delegation to the Munich Olympics by capturing first and second places, respectively, in rapid-fire pistol tryouts yesterday.

McMillan, a gold-medal winner in the 1960 Olympics at Rome, is officer in charge of the Marine Corps shooting team, McNally is a shooter on the Army's Marksmanship Training Unit at Ft. Benning, Ga., McMillan finished with 1,753 out of a possible 1,800 while McNally had 1,752.

A dispute over second in the running-board event was resolved by a recheck of Monday's targets, and the Olympic team berth went to SFC. Edmund O. Moeller, Moulton, Tex., who finished with a 1,625, one point up on Air Force M/Sgt. Robert Dickens, Lackland Air Force Base, Tex. Moeller joins SFC. Charles D. Davis, a fellow Ft. Benning shooter from Hazard, Ky., who won with 1,649.

After two days of three scheduled for three-position small bore, Army Reserve 1st Lt. John Writer, Claredon Hills, Ill., was leader with 2,317 out of a possible 2,400. Another Army Reservist, Capt. Margaret Murdock, Topeka, Kan., and Marine CWO3 David I. Boyd, Quantico, Va., were deadlocked behind Writer with 2,305's. Holding fourth was Army Capt. Lanny Bassham, Ft. Worth, Tex., with 2,300, and in fifth was Army Maj. Lones Wigger, Carter, Mont., with 2,281.

A non-Olympic variation of running boar, mixed runs, was won by Air Force M/Sgt. Robert Yeager, Bradford, Penn., after he and Dickens finished in a tie with 360's.

The Olympic squad after yesterday's shooting thus contained 10 members with four more to be chosen - the top two in 3-position small-bore (ends today) and the top two in free rifle (ends Sunday).

The Squad so far:

SHOTGUN: Anthony Rosetti, Jr., Biloxi, Miss., and Jack Johnson, San Antonio, Tex. (skeet); 2nd Lt. James Poindexter, Air Force, Brandbury, Calif., and Sgt. Donald Haldeman, Army, Souderton, Penn. (trap).

PISTOL: SFC Hershel Anderson, Army, Tracy City, Tenn., and GySgt. Jimmie R. Dorsey, Marine Reserves, Spokane, Wash. (free pistol); Lt. Col. William McMillan, Marines, Turtle Creek, Penn., and SFC James McNally, Army, Columbus, Ga. (rapid-fire pistol).

RUNNING BOAR, SFC Charles D. Davis, Army, Hazard, Ky., and SFC Edmond O. Moeller, Army, Moulton, Tex.

Arizona Republic, June 21, 1972

Area Marine Aims For Olympics

PHOENIX - IN his early 40's, Bill McMillan isn't the old man of the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team, but he's the most Olympics-exposed.

The XX Olympiad at Munich is his fifth in a once-broken string dating back to 1952. No other American shooter comes even close to this record - and probably not many Olympians in any sport.

A career Marine, the Turtle Creek (Pa.) native has risen to lieutenant-colonel in a 25-year career. He came out of Turtle Creek High School in 1946, a classmate of football star (Norte Dame, NFL) Leon Hart.

He now heads the weapons training battalion at the key Marine base at Quantico, Va. and is captain for the Marine Corps shooting team.

In the Olympics, the McMillan peak was a gold medal (first) in rapid-fire pistol at Rome in 1960. He also won a gold medal in center-fire pistol in the World Shooting Championships - bigger by far for shooters than the Olympics - at Moscow in 1958.

He qualified for this year's Olympiad by racking up his 11th U.S. rapid-fire championship - and it was something extra for McMillan to reach the '72 team.

"This is very likely my last chance to shoot in the Olympics," he said afterward. "I wanted this much more than I have other times."

He shot for the United States on Olympic teams in 1952, 1960, 1964 and 1968.

McMillan became a pistol champion by chance. As a young enlisted Marine at a major East Coast Navy yard range, he was assigned a brass-policing detail - picking up spent cartridge cases.

His sergeant, putting together a shooting team, needed another pistol entrant. He urged McMillan to try. The big Pennsylvanian declined - at first.

"Well," the sergeant put it, "you have a choice. You can start pistol shooting, or you can spend the rest of your tour here polishing brass."

McMillan abruptly became a pistol shooter, and the United States and his branch of service have prospered many times since.

He is also an accomplished rifleman. He fired in 1971 with the Marine rifle team in the National Matches at Camp Perry, and he has won the Marine Corps rifle crown two times.

More particular for a Marine, he has won the combined rifle-pistol title five times. This is a championship about which few "outside" competitors are aware, but it's one which generates extensive pride within the Corps.

Married and now living on the base at Quantico, McMillan is the father of three children.

The Pittsburgh Press, Sunday, July 2, 1972

10 Navy, Corps Athletes On U.S. Olympic Team

MUNICH — Forty-eight servicemen and one servicewoman are here as members of the U.S. team that will compete in the 20th Modern Olympiad.

The athletes break down by service as follows: Navy 5, Marine Corps 5, Army 32 and Air Force 8.

Two of the Navy men are Reservists, as is one of the Marines. There also is one civilian employee of the Navy on the team.

In addition to the 49 competitors, 12 military and civilian employees of the defense establishment were selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to fill overhead positions as coaches, managers, etc.

These break down by service as Navy 1, Marine Corps 2, Army 7, Air Force 2.

Although the strength of the U.S. armed forces is considerably less in 1972 than 1968; only one more military athlete made the U.S. team for the Mexico City Olympics than did this year.

The list of Sea Service Olympians includes:

Boxing — Cpl. Reginald Jones, USMC, Camp Lejeune, N.C. (155 pounds); SSgt. Ray Russell, USMC, Camp Lejeune (178); Quartermaster Third Duane Bobick, USN, Naval Station, Norfolk (heavyweight).

Fencing — First Lt. Joseph Freeman, USMC, Quantico, Va. (foil); Seaman John Nonna, USNR, Naval Station, Brooklyn, N.Y. (epee).

Sailing — Ens. Robert T. E. Lansing, USNR, Naval Investigative Service Office, Chicago (first alternate).

Soccer — Lt. (jg) Walter E. Bahr, USN, Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, N.J.

Shooting — Lt. Col. William W. McMillan, USMC, Quantico (rapid-fire pistol); GySgt. Jimmie Dorsey, USMCR, Quantico (free pistol).

Track — Lt. James Dare, USN, NROTC, Stanford, Calif. (3000-meter steeplechase).

Navy Timees, September 6, 1972

MARINE MARKSMAN FIVE TIMES AN OLYMPIAN

J. Walter Thompson Company

Taking careful aim, Lt. Col. William McMillan squeezed the trigger of his pistol and a clay decoy shattered almost instantly.

Watching him, the burr-headed Marine Corps officer candidates applauded with amazement, even though the target was less than 50 feet away. Col. McMillan had stood with his back to the clay decoy and fired over his shoulder, aiming by the reflection of the target in his diamond ring.

Col. McMillan doesn't miss that shot very often, and he doesn't miss going to the Olympic Games very often either. Since he first participated in the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki, the Marine officer has shot for the U.S. team in Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City and again at the recently concluded games in Munich.

At the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, he won the coveted gold medal. This year, Col. McMillan's specialty was the .22 caliber pistol rapid fire. In this contest, five targets, 25 meters away from the marksman, are turned toward him at his signal. During the first series of volleys, he has eight seconds to fire five shots, one at each target.

On the second series, his time limit is cut to six seconds. On the third and final round, the marksman must hit all five targets in four seconds.

"Taking reaction time and other factors into consideration," he says, "that gives the marksman about 3/10's of a second to aim at each target. You don't even have time to get nervous."

The pistol he used in Munich was a .22 caliber Hammerli, made in Switzerland. Designed strictly for accuracy and meeting Olympic specifications, it shoots a small cartridge so there is less recoil. This helps the shooter hold his sights on target. Recoil is also reduced by small holes in the top of the barrel, giving expanded gases another means of escape.

An orthopedic grip is used and is custom made for most marksmen, allowing them to wear the pistol almost like an extension of the hand. A pistol such as this usually costs about $300.

Col. McMillan, who enlisted in the Corps. in 1946, never fired a pistol until 1949. At that time, he was a corporal stationed at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. From his new Marine Corps experience, he found that he like target shooting in regulated competition.

Moreover, he was good. Within three years, Col. McMillan was on the U.S. Olympic team.

He made a career out of the Corps and a lifetime avocation out of target shooting. While a staff sergeant in Korea, Col. McMillan received an officer's commission. Many people have found either their profession or avocation in the Marine Corps. The Corps has many programs designed to help people find their interests and learn new skills. Local Marine recruiters can provide more information.

By 1957, Col. McMillan was the National Champion and World Champion in 1958 and 1960. A decade later, he was still ranked third in worldwide competition.

"It's a good sport," he says, "filled with a lot of good people. The serious competitor has great powers of concentration and is not likely to get emotional with a pistol in his hands."

The 43-year-old Colonel, who was born in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania [correction: Frostburg, Maryland], has hunted wild pigs in Arizona with a pistol. He now hunts deer with a rifle near Quantico, Va., his present duty station where he is the Commanding Officer of the Weapons Training Battalion.

He and his wife, Mary, have three children and often go together to marksmanship competitions. For variety, Col. McMillan has taken up another sport: firing the old-fashioned "ball-and-cap" rifles, similar to those used by other legendary sharpshooters like Davey Crocket and Kit Carson.

Date and Venue

The Olympic shooting competitions will be held at the Shooting Range, Hochbrück, from 27th August to 2nd Septemer, 1972

Rapid Fire Pistol: 1st Stage August 31, 1972 from 0900 — 1400 hours
Rapid Fire Pistol: 2nd Stage September 1, 1972 from 0900 — 1400 hours

Competition Rules 3.2.1 Rapid Fire Pistol

At a distance of 25 metres, ten-ring silhouettes will be set up in groups of five, 0.75 metres apart, from centre to centre.

The competition will be held in two stages, each of 30 shots. Each stage consists of six five-shot series, of which two last eight seconds each, two six seconds and two four seconds.

The shooter may fire a series of five sighting shots at eight, six and four seconds before the start of each stage.