Evening star., 1926-11-14
District National Guard

Great increase in the interest II
TIne shooting among the members o
fne National Guard Of the Distric
OK Columbia was shown at the an
nual rife shooting competitions Of tn,
tocaI militia held last Sunday at tn,
TIne range at Camp Simms Congress,
Heights, d. c. In fact. the showine
went away beyond expectations. ac
cording to Lieut.. Col. Peyton G
hewitt, adjutant of the 29th Nationa
S'uard Division, and 1t was impossible
Tor all of the men who entered the
matches to fire.
Several of. the matches will be helC
today. 1t was announced. and it is ex
pected that they will be completed
particularly the 800 and 500 YARD
matches. The figures on those who
have fired have been slow in COMING
in 1t was said at headquarters, the
statistical officer of the matches. Lieut.
i. A. Riley, now having completed
this task, in which he was figurative
ly showed under by the great number
who appeared to take part in the com
petitions. i.
Brigade headquarters officers who
were at the range during the firing ot
the matches expressed much gratifica
ton over the showing being made by
the men, and the response to the in
vltationS to take part, as this work
fs purely voluntary. 1t indicates tc
those In close contact with National
Guard affairs here that the men are
becoming deeply interested in this fea.
ture or their military training.
Ten OF those who appeared at the
range and who took part In the side
show, which consisted Of a turkey
shoot,' this match being with a shot
gun, instead of the regulation Army
rife, won birds which were awarded
last week. The birds were distributed
alive, and most Of the candidates are
saving them for the Thanksgiving
Teast. However, the jinx seems to
be following one of the winners, Capt.
Just G. Jensen, ordnance officer, who
Is responsible for the promotion Of
rifle shooting among the members of
the Guard, and who has done much
TO turn out some of the best shots in
the outfit.
Last year he won a bird, but in
drawing for them he was last and
got what was conceded to be the
worst one Of the lot. However, he
accepted it as one of the chances of
military life, took it home, carefully
fed 1t and nurtured it along in prep
aration for the anksgiving feast
but 1t beat the ak by one day 1t
died a natural death
This year he was higher up on the
list and selected a better bird. He
carried it to his home. in the Wood
ridge section, where he placed it with
flock OF chickens which he had, and
gtarted a carefully prepared diet, in
anticipation of fattening it for
Thanksgiving day. But when he
went out to the coop to give it it's
feed Tuesday morning he was just in
time to see the coattailS of two
youths making away with the bird
He was twice a winner and twice a
loser.
Others who won turkeys in this
match were Capt. J. w. Johns, COM
manding Company f, 121st Engineers;
First Lieut.. T. A. Riley, Company
Il. 121st Engineers; Technical Sergt.
Whiting p. Lightfoot, Quartermaster
Corps, who took two birds; Capt
James d. Eggleston, 260th Coast Ar
tillery; Capt. Goodwin p. Dunn, COM
manding the Headquarters and Serv-
ice Company, 121st Engineers, who
also took two birds; Second Lieut.
Hugh Everett, jr., Company E, 121st
Engineers; Pvt. Gerald w Hayes,
Headquarters and Service Company.
l21st Engineers; Pvt. William J.
Grouche, Company A, 121st En-
gineers, and Staff Sergt. Alex j. Thill,
Ordnance Department.
Further evidence Of the feeling
here that the National Guard of the
District of Columbia is not q local in
Stitution, but ward Of the Federal
Government, is contained in a letter
which Maj. Gen. Anton Stephan, COM
hi
week from Jesse G. Suter, president
Of the Citizens Advisory Council, in
reply to q letter from the general
asking that the council include q
Recommendation for an armory in
its report. This fact was evidenced
when Mr.. Suter wrote: While mem
bers Of the council have expressed
themselves as being firmly of the
opinion that an armory should be pro-
vided. the feeling prevails to a large
extent that the Federal Government
should make this provision, as it is
clearly Federal activity
In an effort to allay this feeling
Gen. Stephan replied:
I'm the past it has been impossible
TO secure any appropriation from the
Federal Government which would
carry the full cost of erecting an
ermOry. Over a period Of 20 or 25
years all effort to secure such Federal
action has failed
Throughout the country each State
and community provides the National
Guard armory for it's citizen soldiers,
and we have been unable to prevail
upon Congress to have the Federal
Government provide facilities for the
local National Guard, which they
have declined to furnish from Fed
eral funds for their own States
The bills are now pending in Con-
gress which would authorize erection
Of an armory on a joint basis Of the
United States furnishing DO per cent
OF the appropriation and the District
OF Columbia providing so per cent.
Il trust that the Citizens Advisory
Council will most certainly indorse
the bills now pending, and 1 can only