DeKalb High School Cadets Get Guns in 1920

From the April 22, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"The High School Cadets are not marking time since they received the new equipment of guns and rifles  from the government.

"Wednesday two squads  of the company were out for target practice and used the bank of the Kishwaukee River as a backstop.  The boys used the regular ball ammunition and some of them made very good scores."

Students with guns?  Well, it was a different time, wasn't it?

These students were probably the forerunner of today's JROTC at DeKalb High School.

Target Shooting.  --Cooter

Man Shoots Self While Hunting Pigeons in 1919

From the March 20, 2019, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back,"

1944, 75 Years Ago.

"Jack Cook of Rollo had the misfortune to suffer a painful accident of last week.  He was using a rifle to shoot pigeons and as one dropped, he dashed to get it, forgetting to put the safety release on the rifle, the shot going through his leg.

"Treatment was given at Mendota Hospital and he was returned to his home."

I Can Almost Hear the Pigeons Laughing.  --Cooter

Those "Wild West Shows"-- Part 5: Wild Jim's Shooting Exhibition

A reporter from the St. Paul Daily Globe wrote about Wild Bill French's shooting exhibition on board the steamboat Bald Eagle which was accompanied by her sister ship, the Minneapolis.

"First he took shots at 30 glass balls tossed into the air and broke 28 of the 30 with his shot.  Then with the rifle pointed backwards over his shoulder, broke the two balls reflected in a mirror held in front of him."

He followed this up by hitting each of four apples thrown with force directly at him.  In spite of the motion of the boat shaking on the wave he was able to maintain accurate shots.

Wild Jim wrote and published his own ten cent novels exploiting his many talents.  These novels spread his fame and encouraged people to come and see him when he was in town.  He distributed fliers as well.  Cost to attend his shows were 25 cents for men, half price for boys and women were admitted for free.

--CootShot

Illinois' Camp Logan-- Part 3: Echelon and Aiken

Echelon Target System and Aiken targets were used.  An Echelon Target System was a rifle range with various distances to the targets.  Soldiers would qualify at the 200 yard one and proceed every 100 yards to as far as he could successfully hit the Aiken targets.

Use of Camp Logan by the Illinois National Guard was heavy from 1902 on.

There was also live fire by artillery and Gatlin guns.  During World War I, the nearby Great Lakes Naval Training Station took over Camp Logan for overflow.  The WPA made improvements from 1934-1937.

Great Lakes used the base again during World War II.

The caretakers cottage and pump house from the 1890s are still there.  there is also a flagpole, 2 garages, headquarters, one barracks as well as one tool and two store rooms remaining from the 1910s.

--Cooter

Deaths in 2013: Mikhail Kalashnikov, Rifle Designer, AK-47

Age 94.  Wanted to make farm equipment, but ended up harvesting a lot of blood with his AK-47 assault rifle, the world's most popular firearm.

Mr. Kalashnikov felt personally untroubled by his contribution to history and blamed wars on politicians.

The AK-47, Avtomat Kalashikov went into production, though not especially accurate, it was extremely rugged and simple.  It was favored by guerrillas, terrorists and soldiers.  There are an estimated 100 million in the world.

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers would throw away their M-16s and grab AK-47s and bullets from dead Vietnamese soldiers.

These guns were suitable for jungle or desert warfare.

Born in Siberia and joined the Red Army in 1930 and showed mechanical skills in inventing modifications to Soviet tanks.  In 1941, at the Battle of Bryansk, a shell hit his tank.  While recovering from his wounds in a hospital he began brooding about the superior German automatic weapons and began tinkering.

Thus, the world had his namesake rifle.

A World War I German Musketeer?

In the last entry, I mentioned one of the buried Germans as being Musketeer Martin Heidrich, 21. I was unfamiliar with Musketeer being used for German soldiers as late as 1918. I knew that soldiers up until the 1850s-1860s used muskets as a main personal weapon, so the term Musketeer would make sense.

However, by the Civil War, the use of rifles became more the weapon of choice. Hence, the term rifleman.

According to Wikipedia, the term Musketeer is the traditional designation of an infantry private. The use of Musketeer survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I, which would explain Musketeer Heidrich. However, there was a private also buried in that tunnel.

So Still A Bit Mixed Up. --Cooter