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The following biography was written by

Waldo Adam Phinney Sr., 94, of Port Royal, South Carolina, died Oct. 29, 2001 at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.

Phinney, born in Borne, Massachusetts, served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 31 years. He was one of the first Marines transferred to the legation guard at Peking, China. It was at that station that he won his first shooters medal. After two years in China, he was transferred to Quantico.

He was selected for the Quantico Rifle Team in 1933 and while stationed at Quantico in 1934, he served as bodyguard to President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Phinney was on the rifle team at Quantico for two years before making his first trip to Camp Perry in 1935 with the Marine Corps Team. There, in 1936, he set a new match record when he won the National Individual Rifle Match at Camp Perry with a score of 244X250, winning the Daniel Boone Trophy in the process.

Between matches in those years, he served at posts across the U.S. He was a marksmanship coach at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., and later served with the old Floating Battalion, a forerunner of the present day Fleet Marine Force. Firing for the final time as team shooter in 1940 he began a successful coaching career.

Phinney was commissioned at the beginning of World War II. He served in the enlisted ranks from private to Master Sergeant, as a Warrant Officer and eventually a first lieutenant. He received both the Silver and Bronze stars while with the 6th Marine Division on Okinawa. . He also served in the Korean War.

He retired to Port Royal, South Carolina in 1957.