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Your NRA State Association

Winning Ticket Drawn for the Green Mountain Boys Gun Raffle

VT National Guard Adjutant General Martha Rainville draws the winning ticket as MC Bill Leipold and a packed banquet room of 300 looks on.

Charles M. Ferry photo

The last approximately 300 tickets of the 2,500 tickets were sold at the banquet.

Master Raffle Ticket Sellers John Nelson and Dick Guyette sell raffle tickets to VT National Guard Adjutant General Martha Rainville

Charles M. Ferry photo

The pistol was won by Rep. Alan Parent (R) of St. Albans, Vermont. Rep. Parent was not present for the drawing. He picked up the pistol several days later. Rep. Parent serves on the House Fish & Wildlife Committee.

The raffle raised approximately $10,000 for the Fund for Families of the Vermont National Guard and resulted in 2,500 postcards of support being mailed to VT National Guard Headquarter at Camp Johnson. Many of these postcards had handwritten messages from those who purchased the raffle tickets, to VT National Guard members. Camp Johnson personnel are forwarding these postcards to Vermont's National Guard personnel deployed abroad.

The sale of the raffle tickets was a work of support from numerous people all over Vermont. The amounts of postcards mailed and funds raised would not have been nearly so impressive without the selfless service of so many great folks. Many thanks to all of you.

Finally, all of the people, all over Vermont, who purchased a raffle ticket and sent a postcard of support to our VT National Guard are the real story of the Green Mountain Boys Gun. Your actions related exactly what the back of the postcard said to the members of the Vermont National Guard and their families "We Support You, We Appreciate You, We Will Remember You"

The Green Mountain Boys Gun is a NRA “Operation Enduring Freedom” 9 mm Beretta pistol that is a more finely blued and embellished version of the service sidearm of our deployed troops.

The “Operation Enduring Freedom” series is a Beretta onetime production run made for the NRA Foundation. Only 2,500 such pistols were created.

For more information on this unique pistol and the postcard campaign click here.

The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, NRA State Association, also presented Adjutant General Rainville with a bronze statute entitled "The Patriot." The statute was a gift for permanent display in the Vermont National Guard Museum at Camp Johnson. This handsome statute is of a Revolutionary War Minute Man and the first of a series of statutes from the Friends of the NRA Banquets.

Adjutant General Rainville accepts The Patriot statue from MC Bill Leipold

Charles M. Ferry photo

After accepting the Patriot statue, Adjutant General Rainville addressed an attentive audience on the importance of VT National Guard personnel and their families knowing their fellow Vermonters support their service to our nation and this state.

Adjutant General Rainville addresses a hushed audience on the service of the VT National Guard

Charles M. Ferry photo