At the Rapid City South Dakota Regional on 30 June 2007 William (Bill) E. Thompson Jr. earned final “leg” points for his Distinguished Pistol Shot Badge. What makes this news exceptional is that Bill was 80 years and 7 months old when he was awarded Distinguished Pistol Shot Badge #1403.

Bill was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 20 November 1926. At the age of 18 he was drafted into military service and was first assigned to an Infantry unit. When the time came to reenlist William decided to continue his career in the service as a Military Police Officer and his association with the .45 cal M1911-A1 service pistol began. As an MP, proficiency with the service pistol was mandatory, though it was not until Bill was later transferred to South Dakota for duty at Rapid City Army Air Base that he was introduced to competitive shooting.

In 1962, Bill received his first 10 EIC points at the Rocky Mountain Regional in Denver, Colorado. He later received 6 points at the Billings Montana Regional in July 1979, and 6 points at the Pierre, South Dakota Regional five years later in June 1984. Then it was not until June 2006, at the Rapid City South Dakota Regional, that he earned his next 6 points, and finally on 30 June 2007, Bill received his final 6 points towards his Distinguished Pistol Shot Badge.

Besides receiving his Distinguished Pistol Badge, Bill is also a 5-time South Dakota State Indoor Pistol Champion (1965-1966-1984-1992-1994).  After he reached the senior class, he has been the Senior Indoor State Champion 14 times and Outdoor Senior Champion 5 times. Bill still shoots on a regular basis with the Rushmore Shooters Club and is the pistol match coordinator for the Rapid City Rifle Club.

To read other Distinguished Stories, visit http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_distinguished.cgi?distType=&year=&service=&alphaStart= and click on "Biography".

In an effort to better preserve the history and prestige of the Distinguished Badge and the shooters who earned this badge, the CMP is collecting individual stories and pictures for as many Distinguished Badges as possible. If you, or a close family member, are a Distinguished shooter and would like to submit the story of how you became Distinguished, please email swood@odcmp.com with your story and pictures. The CMP will record this information and display it on this website; the CMP staff will review and may edit stories before they are posted. If you or a family member are a Distinguished shooter, why not share your story of this significant accomplishment with others.

The CMP is continually updating its lists of Distinguished shooters. If you have information (missing badges, incorrect names, military service, military rank, hometown, dates of birth) that can help the CMP make these lists more accurate or complete, please email the CMP at competitions@odcmp.com. The military service, rank and/or hometown information that is listed in CMP Distinguished records must be information that was correct at the time the badge was earned.