Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04

! Without missing a drill or training
period, the National Guard of the
District of Columbia, under well laid
plans formulated under the. direction
of Maj. Gen. Anton Stephan, com
handing the orga nization. completed
the movement OF it's heavy equipment
and field paraphernalia from it's
armory, at 472 l. street. to the new
building which it will occupy for drill
purposes, the Wv Hotel, North Cap
| itol and ID streets.
All of the outfits, except Company
A, 372d Infantry, the colored con
iingent, which has been given quar-
ters at 1900 u street, which were
in the l. street armory, moved to
the new location. These included the
! 121st Regiment Of Engineers, the
! largest unit in the Guard; the Brigade
quarters, the goth Military Police Com
pany and the 29th Division Special
Troops.
/ The movement started Monday and
| 1t required four days to complete ii
| One officer and six enlisted men from
| each unit were ordered to duty to
assist in the movement of their re-
| SpectiVe units. and these details were
used in erecting necessary shelving
and preparing the storerooms and
company rooms, so that the troops
! may continue their drill work next
Tuesday without Interruption
| Quarters had been previously as
| signed, and each organization and
| headquarters given necessary quar-
! tefS Tor troops, StOrerOomS and
! offices before the movement started.
and each piece OF equipment was tag
! geo SO that the commercial movers
knew just where to place each. The
general offices of the Guard, including
the division and brigade headquar-
| ters, will be located on the ground
| floor
| While the quarters are not entirely
| suitable for armory purposes, the
Guard officials are determined to make
/ the best of 1t, until they can convince
| congress that a special armory build
ing should be erected for the local
outfit. which should be the model
! Guard Of the country in every way.
| There is no drill hall in the present
quarters which may be used during
lnclement weather. However, it is
expected that arrangements may be
made to use the Railroad Y. NJ. c. A.
auditorium in the Union Station dur
ing the Winter, and during good
| weather to light up with food lights
! the nearby playground and use il as
a drill field
The Guard was practically forced
| into these quarters, as Congress not
only failed to make provision for a
special armory building to be erected
or even give the Guard sufficient
rental money which would enable it
| TO hire a building sufficient TO meet
| its varied requirements in the train.
ing of troops for the field. However
1t was pointed out that every effort
Will be made during the next session
of Congress to convince the legislators
! of the need of a new building and OF
the handicap that is being faced by
| the local soldiers in training them
| selves for field service in time of a
national emergency.
| 1t is not expected that the Guard
! will be allowed to remain here very
| long. and that o place will have to be
provided. The land is on ground
which Congress has authorized to be
purchased to extend the Capitol
grounds to the station plaza. and this
| undoubtedly will be followed by a
tearing down of all buildings and turn
the area into a parkway. In this
event the Guard will be faced with
the situation of again finding quar-
4, tiers.
| This problem, however. will be pre-
4 = =
| Commission. The Attorney General
his ruled that the Guard is such a
Federal activity in the National Capt.
| tai as to come within the require
| ments that the Building Commission
| find it space.
When the local National Guard has
completed it's period of annual field
training. which IS soon to begin, it
will have expended at least $29 .S62.14
for pay of officers and men. transpor-
.tation, fuel. light, subsistence and
other camp expenses. This is the to-
tai amount which has been allotted to
the Guard fom Federal funds by the
Militia Bureau of the War Depart
ment. and it has been apportioned as
follows: Fort Humphreys, Va. 121st
Regiment of Engineers, $17.314.S7;
Virginia Beach. Va. Goth Division
! Staff, Headquarters Detachment Spe-
| cial Troops, 29th Military Police Com
pany, S3674.9S; Fort Monroe. Va,
260th Coast Artillery. S6.660.10, and
Saunders Range, Md, Company ~
372d Infantry. $2,212.24.
Capt. ]. c. Jensen, Ordnance De
partment, local Guard, has been COM
missioned a captain in the Ordnance
| Reserve Corps, and Lieut.. Homer
! Behne, Co +, 121st Engineers, has
| been commissioned in the Engineer
| Corps Reserve, it was announced.
Since the policy has been estab
| lished of keeping the National Guard
rifle range at Congress Heights, d. c..
open daily and Sunday for the volun.
| teer practice of men who desired to
avail themselves of it there has been
an increa sed interest in this work, and
the numbers taking advantage Of 1t
| have constantly increased. Last Sun
day there were rs members of the
Guard who used the range. The
monthly report of firing shows that
81 groups assembled at the range dur
ing the calendar month total GAS per.
sons. OF these 1856 were members of
the local Guard. 1913 members were of
the Regular Army, ~ were members
| of the metropolitan police force of the
| District and 287 were civilians.
| OF the guardsmen who took their
practice rs completed the practice
course and nine of these completed
their record course.
Capt. ]. C. Jensen, Ordnance De
partment. and Lieut.. Thaddeus A
Riley. Company E, 121st Engineers
left for Seagirt, N. j., Wednesday,
where they will represent the local
Guard in the smallbore rifle matches
being held there. They will return
to duty Tuesday.
The following enlisted men of the
121st Regiment of Engineers have
been ordered transferred as privates
Ito the Headquarters Detachment
Special Troops. 10Th Division: Sergt
Norman c. Copp, Company F; First
Sergt. Hobart r. Walker, Company
f, and Private Ira +. krider, Com
pany E.
| Private Hobart T. Walker has beer
promoted to staff sergeant in the 29tf
Division, Special Troops
| Can't. Row w. KeeSee commandins