U. S. International Shooting Championships
Fort Benning, Georgia

U.S. International

Shooting Championships Set to Open Tomorrow

By Lee LaCombe

Triple Winner 1st Lt. Gary Anderson of the Army National Guard is favored to retain his national titles and gain a berth on the U.S. Pan American Shooting Team during the U.S. International Shooting Championships which open here tomorrow.

Lieutenant Anderson, who swept to international prominence with an amazing display of shooting prowess in the 1962 World Championships at Cairo, captured all three of the rifle events in that match last year and currently holds the record in two of them.

He will head a list of more than 300 of the nation's best rifle, pistol and shotgun experts who have invaded Fort Benning for the annual matches.

Moving Target

In addition to national titles and spots on the Pan-Am team, the shooters in Clay Pigeon, Skeet and Running Board will be vying for selection on the U.S. team which will compete in the World Moving Target Championships in Bologna, Italy, in September.

Army competitors will be defending champions in eight of the 10 scheduled events this year.

In addition to Anderson's victories in Free Rifle, Smallbore Rifle Prone and Three-Position Smallbore Rifle, soldier shooters chalked up wins in Free Pistol won by S.Sgt. Herschel Anderson; Center Fire Pistol taken by M.Sgt. William B. Blankenship; Clay Pigeon captured by 1st Lt. Gordon Horner; Skeet won by S. Sgt. Arthur Harris and Running Board Fast Run taken by S.Sgt. John Kingeter.

Air Force Wins

The only events to escape the Army marksmen were Running Board, Slow Run, won by S.Sgt. Richard Brown and Rapid Fire Pistol taken by S.Sgt. Leslie Foster, both of the Air Force.

Although there are no women's events slated at this year's Pan-Am Games in shooting at Winnipeg, Canada, the ladies are permitted to compete for berths on the squad and a couple of them have a fine chance to make it.

First Lt. Margaret Thompson of the Army Marksmanship Training Unit is one of the country's top flight rifle shots and a Gold Medal winner at the World Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1966.

On the handgun range Trude Schlernitzauer of Lowell, Mich., is a former U.S. team member and a very fine international pistol shot.

The championship course of fire in each event will consist of firing the record course three times over a period of three days. A one day break in the shooting schedule will be taken for the July 4th holiday.

The Pan-American team will be composed of eight rifle shooters, four skeet shooters and 12 pistol shooters. Once they have been selected they will be supported by funds appropriated by Congress and administered by the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice, a Department of the Army agency responsible for enhancing shooting competition in the U.S.

The U.S. team for the World Moving Target Championships will be composed of six skeet shooters, six clay pigeon competitors and four firers in running boar.

Special Event

A special event has been added to this year's match program: competition with the air rifle. Competitors can fire in it any time during the eight days of record fire and targets, guns and pellets for participants will be furnished by the National Rifle Association.

This particular type of competition has become extremely popular in international competition, according to Mike Tipa, director of the International Shooting Section of the NRA, and is expected to gain in popularity.

Participation in the event is optional to the competitors in the U.S. International Championships. NRA will also give out appropriate awards to high shooters.

Awards in the scheduled events will be given out at the conclusion of each event.

The Bayonet, Friday, June 30, 1967

U.S. Pan-American

Army, Air Force Split at Tryouts

By Lee LaCombe

Army and Air Force competitors split the first eight berths to be selected on the U.S. Pan-American Shooting Team Monday, each service picking up four spots.

Two individual championships were also won by Army experts.

Captain Bruce Meredith won the Smallbore Rifle Prone Match with a three-day aggregate of 1,790 points, two higher than runnerup Capt. Rhody Nornberg of the Air Force and five better than the old national record.

The Free Pistol crown was won by S.Sgt. Herschel Anderson for the second straight time with a three-day score of 1,673 points. Air Force Maj. Franklin Green was runnerup with 1,659. Anderson's total was nine points higher than the old U.S. Record.

The two matches were the first events of the U.S. International Shooting Championships which will last through Wednesday.

Pistol Squad

Joining Anderson and Green on the pistol squad are Army M.Sgt. William B. Blankenship Jr., who was third with 1,652 points and Air Force T.Sgt. Arnold Vitarbo, who finished fourth with 1,649 points.

Air Force Capt. David Ross and 1st Lt. Gary Anderson of the Army gained the other rifle berths after surviving a shootoff for third and fourth place with A2C Raymond Randle of the Air Force. All three had finished the regular course with identical scores of 1,787.

Four other national records were set in the Free Pistol competition.

Three of these were woman's marks and were set by Maj. Sallie Carroll of the Army Marksmanship Training Unit. Her record scores with the old marks in parenthesis were: aggregate, 1571 (1,552), full course, 537 (534), half-course, 274 (266).

Navy reservist Lt. Stephen Ferber set a new mark in his category for the aggregate with a 1,605 point effort, 28 points higher than the old mark.

Practice sessions will be held Wednesday in Skeet, Rapid Fire Pistol and Three Position Smallbore Rifle with record firing in all three events slated to commence Thursday and last through Saturday.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 7, 1967

Marine Boyd Rifle Winner

FORT BENNING, Ga. - WO David L. Boyd, Marksmanship Training Unit, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, scored two victories in the Interservice International Shooting Championship at this Army Infantry Center.

Boyd, who last year captured the world championship in the prone smallbore rifle at Wiesbaden, Germany, won the smallbore rifle English match and the smallbore rifle kneeling event at Benning.

The Army chalked up eight individual titles, the Air Force four and the Marines two (Boyd's). The Army and Air Force each captured six team crowns.

PO1 Donald Hamilton, Navy and three-time Camp Perry pistol champion, was second in the free pistol and third in the centerfire pistol.

Marine Maj. William McMillan was third in the rapid fire pistol while Marine 1st Lt. Allen Morrison was third in skeet.

Navy Times, July 7, 1967

Lt. Anderson Leads Shoot

FT. BENNING, Ga. (AP) - National Guard Lt. Gary Anderson of Hastings, Neb., a gold medal winner in the 1964 Olympics, still has his shooting eye.

Anderson fired an outstanding 1,167 in the U.S. International Shooting Championships here Friday to take an 11-point edge over his nearest competitor in the three-position rifle match. His two-day total stands at 2,324 points.

Army Lt. John Writer of La Grange, Ill., is in second place with 2,313 points and Army Capt. John Foster is third with 2,312.

In other action, Marine Maj. William McMillan of San Diego, Calif., posted his second consecutive 587 to snag a two-point lead over Air Force T. Sgt. Robert Dueitt of San Antonio, Tex., in the rapid fire event.

Rain hampered the pistol event severely.

The skeet event was highlighted by Navy competitor Al Buntrock, who shattered 98 of 100 birds Friday to move into the lead with a two-day total of 195. Tied for second with 104s are civilian entries Robert Schuehle of Rochelle, Ill., and Robert Rodale of Emmaus, Pa.

All three events are scheduled to end Saturday.

San Antonio Express-News, July 8, 1967

Army Firers Take Six First In International Matches

By Lee LaCombe

Paced by the outstanding shooting of Lt. Gary Anderson of the National Guard, Army marksmen snared six of the championships at the U.S. International Shooting Championships which ended here this week.

Anderson captured a pair of victories. He won the Free Rifle and Three Position Smallbore Rifle matches setting a new national record in the latter.

His 3,473 aggregate in Free Rifle was 40 points higher than Army Capt. John Foster, who finished second.

In Smallbore Rifle he smashed the old record of 3,467 points by 20 points. Army Lt. Margaret Thompson was runnerup with 3,463 points.

Staff Sgt. Herschel Anderson gave the Army its initial win when he took the Free pistol match with a score of 1,673 points.

Air Force Maj. Franklin Green was runnerup with 1,659 points.

Army Maj. Sallie Carroll set three new national women's records in this event. Her scores with the old marks in parenthesis were: 180-shot course, 1,571 (1,552); full course, 537 (534); half-course, 274 (266).

Captain Bruce Meredith of the Army led all the way in winning the Smallbore Rifle Prone Match with an aggregate of 1,790 points. Air Force Capt. Rhody Nornberg was second with 1,788 points.

Interservice champion Army S.Sgt. John Kingeter had little trouble in taking the Running Boar competition with a total of 494 points, 10 higher than runnerup Air Force S.Sgt. Robert Yeager.

Specialist 4 James Beck gave the Army its final championship Wednesday when he came from behind to win the Clay Pigeon title with a score 290.

Civilian competitor Chris Bishop of Kansas City, Mo., was runnerup with 288.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 14, 1967

U.S. Shooters Prepare For Pan-American Meet

Twenty-four of the nation's top shooters tasted the sweet wine of victory in the International Championships recently completed here. They will represent the United States in the big battle for Pan-American shooting supremacy later this month in Winnipeg, Canada.

Heading the nations shooters are World Champions; Lt. Gary Anderson, Lt. Margaret Thompson and M.Sgt. William B. Blankenship. Together they brought back 12 Gold Medals to the United States from the 1966 World Shooting Games in Wiesbaden, Germany. Members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Training Unit earned ten of the 24 places. They are all banded together with four Marines, two civilians, six Air Force and two Navy men to make the U.S. Team the best the nation has ever fielded.

Gary Anderson fired record scores to earn his berth on the Prone and Position Rifle Teams. His teammate will be Capt. Bruce Meredith who placed on the Position Team and shot a record shattering 1790 to earn top spot on the Prone Team.

Olympic Medalist

The U.S. Team competing in Rifle, Pistol and Skeet contests will be further bolstered by Olympic Medalist Maj. William McMillan, USMC, Pan-American Medalist Maj. Franklin Green, USAF, and PO1C Donald Hamilton, twice National Pistol Champion.

Bill Blankenship will be a firing member of all three of the Pistol Teams, giving the U.S. a triple threat for a Gold Medal win in Pistol competition.

Margaret Thompson will also strengthen the team.

Skeet Team

Bob Schuehle from Roselle, Ill., and Robert Rodale, former U.S. team member Allentown, Pa., will represent the U.S. on the Skeet Team.

In the alternate slots they have such shooters as World Champion WO David Boyd, USMC, A1C Robert Randle, USAF and Army's M.Sgt. Ralph Thompson.

The team will journey to Minneapolis this weekend for processing and briefing, then will go on to Winnipeg, Canada for the Games. The big test comes July 24-28 for Rifle and Pistol Teams, and July 29-30 for the Skeet Team.

Supporting the U.S. Team will be Harry Reeves, six time National Pistol Champion, as team manager and Frederick Keifer, director of the Army's International Teams, as Adjutant. Raymond Behnay, from the USAMTU will be the rifle armorer. S.Sgt. David Breeding, USAF, pistol armorer and E. Frank Coleman, shotgun armorer.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 21, 1967

NRA International Championships

While records fell on all sides at the NRA International Championships at Ft. Benning, Ga., in July, Barbara Hampson's outstanding performance proved that you don't have to very tall to be "High Woman" - or very old, either.

Barbara, 14 years of age and 5'4", edged Lt. Margaret L. Thompson, USA, World Woman Smallbore Rifle Championship, out of a the High Woman Award and placed 9th, with 1782, among 47 of the nation's best smallbore marksmen in a sizzling hot competition.

The teen-ager, one of 4 shooting sisters from Homestead, Fla., turned in a score that bested those of an impressive array including the world record-holder for the English (Prone) Match, the 1966 National Smallbore Rifle Civilian Champion, a former National Junior Champion, 4 former Collegiate All-American shooters, Olympic veterans and some of the best Marksmanship Training Unit riflemen.

Lt. Thompson in her own right set 2 new woman's records: 3430 in the Free-Rifle event and 3463 in 3-position Smallbore Rifle.

The Smallbore Rifle Prone Championship fell to Capt. Bruce Meredith, USA, who fired a record-breaking 1790. Meredith, who was 5th in the event last year, handily excelled the old record of 1785 set in 1964.

In addition to Capt. Meredith's new record, there were 4 others: S/Sgt. Herschel L. Anderson fired 1673 in Free-Pistol; World Shooting Champion Gary L. Anderson, set 2 new records with 3473 in Free-Rifle, and 3487 in the Smallbore Rilfe Position; and SFC John Kingeter fired 240 in the Running Boar fast run.

Maj. Sallie L. E. Carroll, USA, from Ft. Benning, took all of the High Woman honors in pistol shooting. She fired 1571 in Free-Pistol, 1665 in Rapid-Fire Pistol and 1728 in Center-Fire Pistol.

Robert F. Schuehle, one of only two civilians who earned a berth on the team to represent the United States at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, fired 291x300 to capture the International Skeet competition. Sp4 James Beck, USA, fired a winning 290x300 score in the Clay Pigeon event.

As in past years, the matches, fired over International courses, determined not only the NRA International Champions but also the members of the Pan American teams.

American Rifleman, Vol. 115, No. 9, September 1967