The Marine Corps League Westchester County Detachment is honored to announce Felix Poydar as the 2025 recipient of the Corporal James Jackowski Marine Memorial Scholarship. On June 2, 2025, during an in-person award ceremony at John Jay High School, Felix was presented with the scholarship award and certificate. Felix will be attending MIT in the fall to pursue his studies.
The Marine Memorial Scholarships were established to commemorate the Westchester County Marines who lost their lives in the tragic bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1983. Each scholarship provides a cash award to a student pursuing further education in engineering or trades fields.
Corporal James Jackowski, a John Jay High School alumnus, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Beirut, Lebanon, on a peacekeeping mission. On that devastating day in 1983, a suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb at the barracks of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines (Battalion Landing Team – BLT 1/8) of the 2nd Marine Division, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers. This attack remains the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and for the United States Armed Forces since the first day of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Corporal James Jackowski was among the 220 Marines, including three from Westchester County, who perished in this terrorist attack.
To view the list of past recipients of the Marine Memorial Scholarship, please visit https://www.mclwestchester.org/marine-memorial-scholarship-recipients/
