Evening star., 1925-02-01

BY direction of Maj. Gen. Anton
general of the District National
Guard has addressed memorandum
to company commanders concerning
the part the local citizen soldiery will
probably take in the Inauguration
ceremonies March 4. 1t is explained
. that while definite Information or or
ders have not been received from the
War Department, it is thought that
the guard will parade. Organization
commanders are therefore instructed
to get their units into such shape
that they may be paraded on short
notice and present an appearance
that will be a credit to the District
and serve as a model, if possible, for
National Guard units over the coun-
try. 1t is expected that all organiza-
tions of the 121st Engineers, 260th
Coast Artillery, Goth Military Police
Company and the '1st Separate Bat
talon (colored) will participate in
the parade and that a regular drill
will be ordered, which will entitle
the guardsmen to pay for the day.
Gen. stephan has submitted a rec
ommendati tion to the commanding
general, Third Corps Area, that the
training encampments of the local
guard units next Summer be held as
follows: 260th Coast Artillery. at
Fort Monroe, Va: 121st Engineers,
at Virginia Beach, Va; 29th Military
Police Company, to accompany the
121st Engineers; 1st Separate Battal-
ion, Infantry (colored), jointly with
the I'd Separate Battalion, Maryland.
at a point to be selected by the COM
manding general Of the Third Corps
Area which will permit the two units
to be in the same camp with the col
ored c. NJ. t. c. and r. 0. T. c. units
of the Third Corps. The 260th Coast
Artillery was organized last June and
was sent TO F'2rt Monroe for its first
annual encambnent, making such
commendable record in the big-gun
target practice that il is felt the or
ganization will be assigned to the
same camp and the same batteries as
last year.
If the 121st Engineers are permit
ted to train at Virginia Beach, Va, 1t
will be their first encampment there.
The District National Guard, mostly
infantry at that time, trained there
during the Summer of 1914. but the
engineers have been organized since
that time. The engineer regiment has
been sent either to Fort Humphreys,
Va, or Camp Simms. d. c., each Sum-
mer since the war. The officers and en-
listed men feel that they should be
sent a reasonable distance away from
their home station for the annual
encampments Those years that the
local guardsmen were encamped at
Camp Simms, d. c., the nearness to
the homes of the guardsmen has not
been productive OF the desired
camp morale. Then, too, the reser-
walton is too small to accommodate
the increasing number of
guardsmen. Fort Humphreys has
proven much more satisfactory than
Camp Smms, but the lack of appro-
priations to properly care for the
camp handicapped the guardsmen as
regards housing accomm odations at
the last encampment. There is hope
among the engineer and military po-
lice organizations that they will be
sent to Virginia Beach and that fact
is already stimulating recruiting.
Announcements are being made
weekly by the adjutant general S
office as to the relative standing of
company organizations in drill at
tendance. There is rivalry between COM
panies in each of the regiments as to
which one can qualify the highest aver
age attendance, as well as between the
two regiments of the guard as to
which shall be highest each period.
During the week just ended the 260th