Evening star., 1940-02-04
Another of the


outstanding chief petty officers o1
the local Naval Reserve Battalion
is Chief Boatsmain's Mate Holbert
B. Berryhill, attached to the lst
Division. He is a veteran of the
World War as we'll as of the loca
battalion. He enlisted in the United
States Navy in 1917, at the outbreak
of the World War, and served the
4 Regular Esta ablishment for 10 years
part Of the time aboard the U. S
cruiser Cleveland He has just COM
pleted IL years service in the local
battalion, having enlisted in 1882
and reached the grade of chief petty
officer one year later. He has not
missed a training cruise since he
joined the Reserve He holds the
Victory Medal for service during the
World War and two medals fol-
twice being selected as the out
standing man in the battalion. In
addition to being active in the train
ing work of the organization, he is
responsible for much of the enter
tainment plans among the enlisted
personnel. He is employed at the
Treasury Department.
Replacement of some of the cid
equipment used by the members of
the local battalion in their drill and
training program has been started
and it is hoped that with it better
results will be obtained from the
approaching annual inspection by a
board of officers from the Regular
Navy.
The first piece of new equipment
to arrive was a new loading machine,
at which the members of the gun
crews are trained in loading the
big guns.
The United States Naval Reserve
officers started drive here recently
to have Congress provide sufficient
funds for the Reserve so that the
!. Navy could issue better equipment.
Further improvements installed,
under the direction of Chief Boat
swain's Mate Joseph P. Slattery, are
a gas alarm and general quarters
alarm system, which will be used
during the annual inspections. Other
improvements are expected from
time to time, but the Naval Re-
servists pointed out that what is
more needed here, in addition to the
new equipment, is a modern armory
to replace the old and most un-
satisfactory quarters now occupied
by the personnel on drill nights.
The present cold spell has seriously
hampered the sea training work OF
the local battalion, the new training
ship, like most vessels plying the
Potomac, being ice-locked at the
washington Navy Yard. Even II
the vessel could get through with its
iron hull, it was not deemed desir-
able to send training crew out OF
week ends with the possibility OF
being locked somewhere along the
Potomac by ice conditions.
Oficers of the local battalion are
studying the reports of the inspector
instructors who recently conducted
an inspection under the same condi-
tions as the one to be conducted on
February by officers from the
Navy Department. These instruc-
tors made full notes on everything
which might be found an object OF
adverse report from the board and
have turned these over to the divi-
sion commanders, with q view to
having them stress these points on
their training work between now
and the date set for the inspection
Armed with this information from
disinterested observers, it is expected
that the local organization will be
able to profit to the extent that the
inspectors will find little or nothing
to chalk up against the local three
divisions when they arrive.