Evening star., 1920-02-27

Tho Evening Star medal, awarded
annually for the past thirty years to
| the champion shot of the District Ma
| tional Guard, was presented last night
| to Corp. Joseph H. Robertson. At the
| same time decorations for qualifica-
! tion in the use of the service rifle
were awarded sixteen other guards
men who have fired the required
| courses during the past year and
demonstrated their ability to shoot.
| Companies A, and c of the District
| Of Columbia National Guard gathered
! in battalion formation at the armory.
472 l. street northwest, last night to
| witness the award Of Workmanship
! decorations. Maj. r. D. La Garde. the
| adjutant general. presented the med
! ais and the regulation qualification
| insignia Maj. La Garde told the
guardsmen that great credit is due
! them for "practicing the military art,
while other we'll intentioned COM
patriots are merely discussing de-
fense measures of the future"
Extract From Mai. La Gnrde's Talk.
He said in part:
1T is established by the annals of
our history that the American mil
| itiaman under trained officers Is a
1
ways appeared as one Of the national
characters Of our body polite. both
| in peace and In war. The National
Guard Is susceptible of great posi-
bilities and Is so established as one
Of the institutions Of the national
| life Of America that it should be mad.
possible to encourage and develop -
by the modern military plan soon TO
be adopted by the Congress.
1T has been over year now since
two of the companies nere present
were inspected and recognized by the
federal government. One camp of In
struction in target practice anG some
hfty drill assemblies have been held
and on the results of yoUr work YOU
deserve commendation and coaEratu-
lation. Especially do these ri:lemen
deserve praise for their hours OF caro-
full practice which made possible ihe
selection by competition of credit
| a bile team to represent the District
| Of Columbia National Guald at the
last national rifle competition and en-
abled them to win these decorations.
Medal bestowed ON Corp. Robertson.
Mai. La Garde then presented Th'
\ Evening Star medal and the medal
| awarded by the. District Nationa.
Guard for the highest aggregate score
| on te rife range to Corp. Robertson.
Robertson has been recognized for
some time as one Of thesbest rite
shots in the National Capital. He has
been identified with several civilian
| shooting organizations, in addition tc
| his connection with the Narinna.
Guard. and was a memD7r Of the team
| that represented the citizen soldiers
1 of the National Capital last summer
at the national matches. in winning
the match for The Evening Star
medal Robertson made total score
Of 13f out Of $50. Tho competition
| called for ten shots each at 200 yards,
200 Yards and 600 yards with the serv-
ice rifle. The match was shot last
November on the National Guard
range at Congress Heights
List OF Decorations.
| The list of decorations awarded fo r
qualification with the service arm in
! cludes:
Expert rifemen Private William c
Robertson, Company A, and Private
Joseph H. Robertson, Company "A.
! Sharpshooter~Capt Samuel j.
Smith. Company A: Serg.. George .;
Israel, Company A: First SerSt. Will
liam r. Jorgenson. Company c; Corp.
Harley E. Grogan, Company Z, and
Bugler Cornelius T.. Murphy, Com
Msrksmen--First Lieut.. George L.
Evans, Company c; First Sergt
THOMAS ]. Shea, Company A: Sergt.
Adelard A. Nourie. Company A; Pri-
yate George w. Pryor. Company A:
| private Seldol >. EaDcock, Company
1C. Private Alvin T. Bowers Company
| G.: Private George A. Fleishell. Company
!C: Private Samuel l.. Pidgen. COM
| pany c, and Private James K. saInp-
son, Company