Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1949-03-11
Kerr To Remain On
Job Until Sept.
Continued from Page u

| lIOIIl ctSS
Civilian Workmanship, which
sponsored National Rifle Matches
for 80 years at Camp Perry; the
Erie Ordnance Depot, Camp Per-
ry's Ordnance owned and operated
neighbor; and the residents of Of
tawa County.
Col. Kerr's association with
Camp Perry began in 1907, when
as an ONG sergeant, he arrived
there on "muleback", escorting
more of the proverbial stubborn
animals for National Guard use.
"My mule died, depriving me of
transportation to leave, so | stayed
on", Col. Kerr explains. His first
assignment was as assistant camp
superintendent.
All Camp Perry visitors have
noted the statue of General A. B.
Critchfield, founder of Camp Per-
ry, but the majority give him little
more than a passing thought.
Through Col. Kerr's reminiscing,
General Critchfeld again is busy
about Camp Perry, purchasing the
acreage and making ready for the
first National Guard training per-
iod and for the first National
Matches. General Critchfield and
Col. Kerr were from the same
small Ohio village, Shreve, in
Wayne County.
Only 13 years old at the out
break of the Spanish American
War, Col. Kerr was disappointed
at not being able to join the Army.
Two years later he jumped at an
enlistment with the ONG, on its
first encampment in 1900 at New
Philadelphia. Realizing he had the
cart before the horse, he return
ed to Shreve to seek his parents
permission. Fortunately, they
agreed. He served as an enlisted
man until 1914, when he was pro-
NOTED from first sergeant to first
lieutenant because of existing va
cancies.
In 1916 and 1917, he served in
action with National Guard troops
along the Mexican border. He
served overseas during World War
|, as an officer in Company H,
146th Infantry, 8th Ohio Regi-
ment. He never received a scratch
though his company participated
in five battles, and in the Meuse-
Argonne engagement registered
166 killed and AZ wounded. Dur
ing World War II, Col. Kerr was
recalled to active duty, serving in
the rank of major, as executive of
ticer at Camp Perry, leased by
the federal government for that
emergency.
Although Col. Kerr bears no OBJ
vious battle scars, his heart has
sustained one. During the early
years of World War II, his only
son, 1t. Robert Kerr, a pilot with
the 319th Fighter Squadron, was
killed in an airplane accident over
England.
Col. Kerr recalls that Camp Per-
ry has served the needs of the
Army in both World Wars. The
Officers Training School, estab-
lished there in 1917, was destined,
under General Critchfeld's guild
ance, to be moved and developed
into Camp Benning, Georgia, dur
ing the peacetime years. 1t was
used as both Reception Center
and an Ordnance Unit Training
Center in cooperation with Erie
Ordnance Depot, and finally a pris-
oner of war camp during World
War III.
AS peacetime superintendent of
Camp Perry, Col. Kerr was a driv-
ing force behind the National Rifle
Matches which attracted thous-
ands of the nations finest marks
men. He captained four ONG
teams, and served on another, in
addition to firing with an ALL
American National Guard squad.
Col. and Mrs. Kerr have lived
at Camp Perry or their residence
Just outside the entrance on Route
since their marriage in 1911.
They have two daughters, Mrs.
Charles Lucas, with her husband,
Maj. Lucas, with General Army
Headquarters in Tokyo and Mar
tha Kerr a federal employee at
Eort n,1 T,l;Tn,,,;,