Dear Sir,

I competed as a young Marine in the Eastern Division Matches at Camp Lejeune in either 1980 or 1981 on a team made up of Marines from different bases.

My coach was a Marine Captain whose name was (I believe) Captain James O'Connell.

I may be wrong on the spelling of the name, have his first name wrong, or it may have been Capt. Connell instead of O'Connell.

I apologize for my bad memory but in The Corps, enlisted men (I was a Corporal or Sgt at the time), did not exactly call officers by their first names and most of the time I addressed the Captain as "Captain" or "Skipper" as that was the traditional form of address for an enlisted man to refer to a Captain in The Corps.

He was a pilot of OV-10 "Bronco" aircraft and had flown them in the Vietnam War so he may be a member of your association or someone who IS a member may possibly know him.

I have tried searching the distinguished shooters listing but found no listing for any name near those I thought might have been Capt O'Connell's.

In addition to being a great coach and very knowledgable he WAS a double distinguished shooter.

The Captain was familiar to many of the shooters on the line as I remember him speaking to some as one would speak to a friend or former teammate.

I can't seem to locate him on the distinguished shooters listing the C.M.P. maintains.

Is there someone there that can help me?

I'm trying to locate the Captain so I can contact him and tell him how much his coaching meant to me and how it affected the course of the rest of my life after I left the USMC.

Long story short.... I am currently a police sniper and most all of what set me on this course in my life I owe to the Captain.

Unfortunately I never saw the Captain again after leaving Camp Lejeune to return to my base. (Earle Navel Weapons Station)

If you can help me in any way I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your help.

Semper Fi,

John M. Klein
Sgt. USMC '78-'82