Evening star., 1941-04-06

will remain with the Maryland Ma
tional Guard unit, it was said.
Maj. j. C. Higgs, a former Mis-
souri, National Guard officer, has
been selected to take command of
the new National Guard outfit, and
he is on active duty at the local
Guard armory, where he is directing
the recruiting of the necessary per-
sonnet for formation of the unit.
Although it is understood that
one OF the requisites for Federal
recognition is the provision of an
hangar and other training space,
and it was indicated that w. P. A.
funds might be obtained for the
construction work, officers at the
local brigade headquarters professed
to be without information as to
when these would be obtained or
even it might be expected that
work might be started on the prof.
ect. 1t would require some time to
let contracts for the construction
.of the building which it is now
nbpoSed to erect on the expert
mental farm of the Department of
Agriculture at Beltsville, Md.
The local flyers made a strenuous
effort, through their officers and
those at the brigade headquarters
to have the District of Columbia
provide funds for the facility which
it is proposed to erect. 1t was pro-
posed to build hangar and other
training facilities at the new and
modern Washington Airport. But
in view of the fact that the Federal
Government is sharing a large part
of the burdens of national defense
preparation, it was the belief that it
should foot the bill for armory IA
cilities for training the personnel,
which in any event will be for the
benefit of the entire country and
not only the citizens of the District
In view of the fact that it is now
contemplated that the organization
will be inducted into the Federal
service for a year of field training,
Immediately upon being formally
recognized by the War Department,
the question has been raised as to
why it should need training facili-
ties at this time. Furthermore, if
the hangar had been located at the
Washington Airport, it was pointed
out, 1t would have been more ac-
cessible to local personnel who
might have become attached to it
through enlistment. AS the pro-
posal now stands, it will be located
almost half way to Baltimore, which
will involve long trips on regular
drill nights for the personnel, which
is to be largely recruited from the
Capital City.
1t was said that the War Depart
ment has not yet made any decision
as to whether it will seek congress
siona1 authority to keep the present
National Guard units in the field
for more than a year. Much de-
pendS on the development OF the
situation in Europe. Those familiar
with National Guard operations
point out that it would be folly to
recall from their field training a
group of men in the pink of fighting
trim and have them returned to
their homes, only to be called out
again soon after because of the
exigencies of the situation.
While 1t has been reported in
directly to the local brigade head
quarters that a number of the en-
listed personnel of the local militia
brigade had been rejected for field
training after they had reported at
the training areas, it was said at
the headquarters that no official
papers have been received here con-
corning the discharges.
Although the men have been dis
charged from their service in the
field, it will be necessary, to clear
their military records here, that the
local headquarters issue formal dis
charges from the local militia
brigade.
Work on improvement of the
rifle range of the local militia bri-
gade at Congress Heights, D. c., is
progressing and before the summer
is over it is expected it will be fin
ished. During the summer, it was
said, it will be necessary to use the
range considerably, as it is in de-
mand by the military and naval
forces located here and in the vi
cinity for the purpose of taking
rife practice.