You’ve probably never heard of EE-3, a small artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico. You might have heard briefly of James Taylor Waldron, a soldier who died in action in Vietnam, and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry, but that was long ago and his brother supposes you’ve forgotten.

If you get a chance to fish or dive on EE-3 now, you’re likely to remember. It’s newly named for Sgt. Waldron, who fought in the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was 20 years old when he was killed on Sept. 13, 1970.

The right to name a reef for him was an award to his brother Taylor “Curt” Waldron, a custom house builder of Ellijay Ga. Curt and his team of divers earned it by spearing at least 500 lionfish — they scored 535 — during Florida’s Panhandle Pilot Program, a yearlong tournament that ends next May 19.

“After the Vietnam War was over, very few cared but me and my parents,” said Curt Waldron, a veteran of the Marine Corps. “I wanted to do something more. The world has forgotten him, but they will look at that artificial reef name.”

The Waldron Reef is tiny, a concrete and steel triangle standing 12 feet tall on sandy bottom 17 nautical miles south-southeast of Pensacola Pass. The coordinates are listed as latitude 3004.598, longitude 8708.657. It’s apparently not easy to find.

When the lionfish competition began with a weekend tournament last May, Curt Waldron and his pals were lionfish rookies. He never even heard of lionfish until 2014 when, on a trip to the Keys, he tried it at an Islamorada restaurant.

Let’s get out of the way and let him tell this part himself: “Fast forward to November of 2015 and Bill Parsons, my North Georgia mountain neighbor, and I were working on a new custom home. I kept saying I was going to re-activate my scuba diving (12 years off for me) and would like to enter a lionfish tournament in Florida. Bill had not been diving since his college years but was also interested in the idea. While researching the idea we discovered the Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Tournament.”

That was in Pensacola. They saw that the first 10 dive teams to take 500 lionfish out of the Gulf would earn the right to name an artificial reef.

“We had 6 months to get both our open water diving certificates refreshed and move up to the advanced open water level so we could safely dive in the 100-foot plus range. Somewhere during this time frame, Bill decided we should go for the reef-naming portion of the FWC Challenge. He suggested we name it for my brother.”

Waldron earned his certificates at Pensacola and Bill Parsons got his in Georgia.

“Bill arrived two days before the tournament and neither of us had ever seen a lionfish in the wild, much less speared any!”

They stuck their first ones on a practice trip, two days before the tournament. Next day they were joined by Parsons’ brother Huston and college roommate Chip Burger. They called their team The Georgia Crackers.

During the opening weekend tournament they caught 133 lionfish. “I have to admit it looked like we had a big hill to climb to get up to 500 for the reef naming contest,” Waldron said.

They returned to Pensacola for a week in July, this time with T.J. Huff, a young friend of Bill Parsons who came as a substitute. They made 22 dives from three charter boats to add 402 lionfish for the total of 536.

After winning the right to name the reef in his brother’s honor, Curt Waldron went there, or almost there, on a dive charter in September. He brought his brother’s medals and the ashes of his late coonhound Buddy, all sealed in a concrete block wrapped in the American flag.

He was going to leave the mementos on the reef but couldn’t locate it — a disappointment he considers temporary because he’s a big-time lionfish guy now and eager to return for more.

Naturally, there’s more than only that to this. Curt Waldron served in the Marine Corps. If you know many men who have, you know there’s no such thing, not quite, as an ex-Marine.

“Why do this?” Waldron asked, and answered himself. “He was my brother in real life and a fellow comrade in arms. I have not forgotten him or the many other men I served with.

“Many years have passed since 1970 but I have never been confused by what the Marines taught me. ‘Semper Fi’ is not just a phrase and I will be ‘Always Faithful’ to the memory of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.

“So in its own little way, this is meant to honor all of our service members, living and dead. My brother did not care about medals. He cared about the men he served and fought with.”