NATIONAL GUARD NATIONAL ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONSHIP RIFLE TEAM 1959-1960 (Team, Class of 2010)
The Indoor Rifle team representing Warren’s Company D of the National Guard’s 118th Engineer Battalion finished tied for the First Army title in the fall of 1959, but “lost on a matching of scorecards.” This was the second year in a row that they had been nosed out by a squad from Northfield, Vermont.
Then in the spring of 1960 they captured the Rhode Island championship with a record of ten wins and no losses. After defeating Company C of Bristol’s 2nd Missile Battalion, they capped off their perfect season with a defeat of the 118th Engineer Battalion’s Company A of Pawtucket. The five team members who participated in the final state match scored a near-perfect 490 out of a possible 500 points while firing in the prone position.
The team then ended the “curse of Vermont,” as they captured the National Rifle Association Championship of 1960.
Members of the team were Specialist Fourth Class Eddie Boulanger, Sergeant Manny Barboza, Sergeant First Class Roger Camara, Sergeant First Class Bob Lanoue, Sergeant First Class George Moren (coach), Sergeant First Class Bob Proulx, and Chief Warrant Officer Bill Willis.
Willis had the season’s high score of 284 (out of a possible 300), while Boulanger and Proulx were the high scorers in the title-clinching match.
(Boulanger, Moren, Proulx, and Willis are being honored posthumously.)
