# 
wears one so they shot through it all. 
The brown Springfields of years past 
hot, dry and dusty, this year were 
black barreled and muddy stocked, but 
they shot! How they did shoot! The 
first long run on the new “B” target 
with the twelve inch “V” ring inside 
the twenty inch bullseye was recorded 
on one of these cool days when the 
shooting coat was a welcome addition 
to the wardrobe. To Sergeant F. M. 
Franklin, 6th Engineers goes the dis¬ 
tinction of starting something which 
may be expected next year to be fol¬ 
lowed by something more remarkable. 
For each year it is said, “We have 
reached the ultimate in rifles and am¬ 
munition. Now it is up to the man.” 
Each year the conditions are made 
harder. And annually someone—like 
this Engineer—disproves our pet theo¬ 
ries that at last we have made so hard 
that ties will be unusual and long runs 
almost unheard of. 
The School of Instruction was 
scheduled to start on September 3rd 
with the 1st and 2nd to be devoted to 
the arrival of teams, issue of equip¬ 
ment and general “shaking down” into 
the routine of camp life. By August 
31st three full teams and probably a 
half hundred civilians were on hand. 
Just one indication of the eager en¬ 
thusiasm of the Camp Perry clan this 
year. Monday it rained. Not that 
such an event was remarkable this 
year but ordinarily the weather has 
been so good that this unexpected rain 
suspended operations for the day. 
Tuesday it rained. But that shooting 
bunch would be denied no longer and 
the pellets of Frankford Arsenal mixed 
in the first of their series of en¬ 
gagements with the pellets of J. Plu- 
vius. Through the School they went. 
Guardsman, Civilians, metropolitan 
police, and industrial police. On a 
range of their own to the right of the 
pistol firing line a school of youngsters, 
lads and lassies from seven to seven¬ 
teen, future shooters and future 
mothers of shooters went through the 
course laid down by the W. J. R. C. 
Mingling with the Guardsmen and 
Civilians on the Service Rifle ranges 
the student officers of the nine corps 
area R. O. T. C. units and the officer 
candidates of the C. M. T. C. college 
men the former, college men, clerks, 
farm boys, mechanics, the latter, 
splendid rifle shooting material all of 
them, went through the course—and in 
the going gathered to themselves so 
much of the lore of the game that in 
the matches during the weeks follow¬ 
ing every prize bulletin was punctu¬ 
ated with cryptic symbols ROTC and 
CMTC. 
The 200 yard Rapid Fire Match, 10 
shots sitting from standing in one 
minute firing at the “A” target with a 
round ten - inch bulls - eye opened the 
match program on Monday, September 
10th. Lieutenant W. R. Watson of the 
Infantry won the match after having 
tied with nineteen others on a possible 
in the first string, shooting all of them 
out on the second string except Ser¬ 
geant J. J. Dyba of the Coast Artillery 
and finally beating the Artilleryman 
50 to 49 on the ’•third string. J. B. 
Grier, a civilian of Wilmington, Dela¬ 
ware, took the 300 yard Rapid Fire 
Event fired later Monday afternoon. 
The Delawarean tied with six rapid 
fire artists on the first string then out- 
shot them with a 48 against 47 for 
Private G. D. White of the Marines 
and Lieutenant G. W. Rehm of the 
Cavalry the other three competitors 
turning in 45’s. Seven hundred and 
seventy-two men faced the targets in 
these first matches before the camp 
was more than partially filled and gave 
some hint of the enormous entry lists 
of later events. 
The Leech Cup Match. A Match of 
surprises since its inception in 1874, 
lived true to its reputation this year. 
It was won by Sergeant William E. 
Hayes of the Oregon National Guard 
Team. Hayes, a lightly built youngster 
got away to a good start at 800 yards, 
the first stage of the match putting all 
seven record shots in the black five 
ring. A good many others did the 
same thing so there was no particular 
excitement among the Oregon conting¬ 
ent when Hayes went on the line the 
next morning. After the 900 yard 
stage was finished, however, Oregon’s 
hopes rose because Hayes was one of 
the few remaining with a clean score 
of 5’s to his credit. At 1,000 yards, 
the final stage the lad from the North¬ 
west was the only one to save all seven 
shots and so won the match on a possi¬ 
ble score of 105 to have his name 
engraved beside that of Bodine, Gilder- 
sleeve, Winder, Casey, Richard, Ches- 
ley, and those others who did their bit 
to make the present National Matches 
possible and who in doing it gained 
their reward through such engraving 
on the old shooting trophies and on the 
hearts of the younger generation. 
There were eight hundred and one en¬ 
tries in the Leech and of that number 
five pushed Hayes with 104 and four¬ 
teen more pressed close with 103 each. 
This year the Navy presented a 
trophy to the National Rifle Associa¬ 
tion for annual competition. Typically 
Navy in design, it was decided to 
award the prize in the Off-hand Match. 
This match had a history of over a 
decade, its prestige was well estab¬ 
lished and the off-hand style of shooting 
seemed most appropriate to the sailor 
men. The Match was fired on Wednes¬ 
day, the 12th and, strangely enough, of 
the more than seven hundred and fifty 
men entered a sailor, Fireman L. C. 
Gordon, carried back to the Navy, for 
the year at least, the trophy they had 
donated. Gordon’s score of 94 was 
made under difficult conditions with a 
gusty wind and through fitful, misty 
(streamers curling across the range. 
Captain D. M. Bartow of the Infantry 
finished close behind Gordon turning 
in a score of 93 and outranking Ser¬ 
geant Major L. P. Cartier and Gun¬ 
nery Sergeant B. E. Clary of the 
Marines. 
As an incentive to men to outfit 
themselves and train for the “Free 
Rifle” team a new N. R. A. Individual 
Free Rifle Match was added to the pro¬ 
gram this year. The match was fired 
over the regular international range 
of 300 metres and called for twenty 
shots in each of the international posi¬ 
tions, prone, kneeling, and standing. 
Carrying through with the consistent 
work which had marked him through 
the entire practice period and flinging 
out a “storm warning” of what was 
coming later in the International, Ser¬ 
geant Fisher, of the Marines, won the 
Free Rifle Championship of the N. R. 
A. with a total score of 548. Sixteen 
points better than Major J. K. Boles, 
a team mate, could do. 
Came then the President’s Match 
with the unprecedented entry list of 
1161 competitors. The 200 yard stage, 
10 shots off-hand was fired Thursday 
the 13th, the 600 yard stage, 10 shots, 
Friday the 14th and the final stage, 20 
shots at 1,000 yards Saturday the 15th. 
The President’s carries with more of 
(Continued on page 647) 
Page 623 
