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Show UTAH BIO 111 I to ciraetf Chaplain Roberts Turns in Net Receipts to Colonel William C. Webb. FIRING TESTS HELD Regimental Gun Competi. tion Held by Batterymen of Beehive State. J Special to The Tribune. CAMP KEAKNY, Cal., July 27.-"Honie 27.-"Honie Backing" was never better, demonstrated than today when the 345tb field artillery band returned to c?Vw and Chaplain Brigham 11. Eoberts prc- sented Colonel William C. Webb with V' a draft for $11,000, which he said was only part of the money the Utah people' peo-ple' had presented to the gunners in ap- 1 preiuation of their patriotic self-sacri- 1 fice in giving their all to their country. coun-try. I Lieutenant Clarenee J. Hawkins was ; the center of an interested group of , officers, as he related some of the ej- , periences of the wonderful trip the. bandsmen has enjoyed.' He said the men had behaved admirably from start to finish, always being prompt to keep ; their concert engagements and working work-ing hard to please their director ami their enthusiastic audiences. ? Colonel Webb said he estimated that , the bauds had earned all told, more I than $12,000 over their expenses, i which figured to something over $3000. ; The total gross receipts of the ban.l concert tour of the Beehive state are 1 reported to be about $16,000. Home Folks Praised. Lieutenant Hawkins praised the home i folks of Utah gunners for the royal re- i ception they had given the band at ev- ' cry town they played. He told how the people simply took charge of the bands- ; men bodily between concerts and took them off to their homes for dinners a and in their machines for auto parties. "I never had a better time in my I life," lie exclaimed, "in spite of the fact that we all had to w-ork hard to cover all the engagements we had i scheduled." Eejoicing was general here when the ; boys learned that the band was back ; and many hearty cheers went up wheu they were told of the wonderful "goM- c en" tribute their home folks had pail to furnish them extra luxuries during their future activities. Ephraim and Beaver, bot-h towns of '', about 3000 people, were mentioned by Lieutenant Hawkins- as wonderful ex- i amples of patriotic generosity. .At Ephraim he said the band colleTi t more than $1250, and at Beaver, whe i the girls, ''God bless them," were 1! charge of the concert, thev passed of hat for the last $35 to make up - var even $1000, for the gate receipt, ie showed a total of $905. f Chaplain Eoberts acted as advance agent of the band on their state tour and Colonel Webb praised him ! ighlv today for the wonderful work hi," bad done. He said he was one of the ' ' big brains" of Utah and that he deserved unlimited credit for the great work he is doing among the boys. Passes Extended. By special dispensation from Major-General Major-General F. S. Strong, division commander, comman-der, extra liberty was given officers and men here today who have their families living in the vicinitv of camp. Passes were permitted over Sundav night until reveille Monday morning. -Brigadier-General Eichard W. Young, commander of the Sixty-fifth artillery brigade, was in charge of the regimental regimen-tal gun competition held today for the Utah men of 145th field artillery. Acting Act-ing on the committee of iudge's with General Young were Colonel Ralph .1. Faneuff, commander of the 143rd California Cali-fornia field artillerv. Major Fred T. Gundry. brigadier adjutant, and Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Bruce Martin of the 144th California Cali-fornia field artillery. First an elimination contest was held with four gun sections from each battery bat-tery eomiieting. Finally it was sifted down to one trained a'nd one recruit gun section from each batterv and then the official race began with a continuous contin-uous roar of the guns firing three-ineh blank cartridges. Twelve gun sections competed in the finals. The judges took note of four qualifications under the head of "fire discipline," efficiency, effi-ciency, accuracy, speed and military precision. As each batterv went into action it was given a specific problem and the various sections were watched closely. Sergeant Protects Men. One of the sergeants of one of tho gun crews performed an heroic feat A with as much unconcern as if noth-ing noth-ing unusual had happened. During thv firing tho firing pin of No. 4 gun fused to work and some of the biauk cartridges failed to explode. One of tho "dud" shells which was ejected was smoking. Tho sergeant grabbed it and threw it clear of his gun crew- and then watched it from tho corner of his eve as ho went on directing direct-ing his firing. He would have done the same thing if it. hail boon a live shrapnel shell. His military training had so thoroughly drilled him in considering con-sidering others that it was almost instinct in-stinct for him to protect his gunners. Winners were not aunoinicod today and prizes not, awarded, as it was Hearing Hear-ing the liberty hour when tho contest closed and the judges decided to take more time and will make tho final announcements an-nouncements and awards ou Monday. |