The Marine Corps League Westchester County Detachment is proud to announce that Matea Milich is the 2026 recipient of the Corporal James Jackowski Marine Memorial Scholarship.
On June 2, 2026, Detachment Commandant Jack Eckhardt joined family, friends, and school community members at John Jay High School for an in-person award ceremony, where Matea was presented with the scholarship certificate and award. Matea will attend Binghamton University this fall to continue her education.
The Marine Memorial Scholarships were established to honor the memory of the Westchester County Marines who made the ultimate sacrifice in the terrorist bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1983. Each scholarship provides financial support to deserving students pursuing higher education in engineering or trade-related fields.
Corporal James Jackowski, a proud John Jay High School alumnus, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Beirut on a peacekeeping mission. On that tragic day, a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives into the barracks of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines (BLT 1/8), 2nd Marine Division, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers. The attack remains the deadliest single-day loss of life for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and for the U.S. Armed Forces since the first day of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Corporal Jackowski was one of three Westchester County Marines among the 220 who perished.
To view the list of past recipients of the Marine Memorial Scholarship, please visit: https://www.mclwestchester.org/marine-memorial-scholarship-recipients/
To support the Marine Memorial Scholarship fund, please visit https://www.mclwestchester.org/programs/donate/
