May 20, 1959

Carlos “Gunny” Hathcock enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on his seventeenth birthday, with his mother’s written permission. While at boot camp in San Diego, he qualified at the expert level in marksmanship. In 1962, after being transferred to the USMC Air Station at Cherry Point, North Carolina, he set the record on the “A” course by shooting 248 out of a possible 250, a record that remained until the course was retired. Hathcock is believed to have attained the highest number of recorded kills in the history of the United States Marine Corps. Known to his fellow soldiers as “Gunny,” Hathcock had ninety-three confirmed kills as a sniper during the Vietnam War.