The Skirmisher from Salina, Kansas • 1

Skirmisher h. ST. JOHN'S MILITARY SCHOOL, SALINA, KANSAS No. 11. Vol.

II. MAY 30, 1919 There were daily drills; parade and FOR MAJOR PERKINS CADETS HAVE CAMP guard mounting were held in the eve ning, but except for those who were on the various necessary fatigue de tails and on the range, most of the cadets had plenty of time to enjoy themselves along with their instruc tion. PLANE PERFORMS FOR CADETS ST. JOHN'S CAMP NAMED FOR SALINA SOLDIER This year's St. John's camp was named Camp Perkins in honor of Major Roy Perkins of Salina, who has been honored by the United States and France for gallantry in action.

Major Perkins, then Capt. Perkins, left Salina with Company as captain. After being cited for bravery in France and after being gassed, he returned to the United States as instructor at Camp Funston and was promoted to major shortly before the armistice. He would have returned to France with the Tenth Division, probably, if the fighting had not stopped. Although it was known he had been honored by the United States government, no one knew that he also had been given the French war cross, as the following extract from the Salina Evening Journal shows: "That Major Roy Perkins is the proud possessor of the Croix de Guerre, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the French government, was revealed last night to the crowd at the Company dinner at the Methodist Church.

Strangely enough, he has had it for more than a year, but it remained for another soldier, Col. Fred R. Fitzpatrick to tell the story Army Machine Does Stunts Over Camp Perkins Aeroplane stunts entertained the cadets during several days. On one day in particular, the machine flew out over Camp Perkins, circled around the camp a number of times and wound up by showing a number of stunts before going back to its landing place near the Country Club. Major Ganssle had hoped to arrange for the machine to land in the strip of meadow just south of the camp.

A fringe of trees, however, made landing impractical except with the wind from a certain direction and the wind didn't seem disposed to change when the aeroplane was over the camp. The flying machine was an army plane from Ellington Field, Texas. It came directly to Salina from Texas, to aid in the Victory Loan campaign and remained here more than a week. It was in charge of two Salina boys, Lieutenants Mac Short and Leo Kuhn. BATTALION GETS RANGE WORK LIVE IN TENTS When "Fall In" was commanded on the hill near the home of Bob White, southeast of Salina, cadets of St.

John's Military School turned for a last look at their camp-site in the valley below, a camp-site that had been their home for nearly two weeks at the annual encampment of St. John's School. They had lived under canvas all that time, they had lined up for their meals and eaten in the open air; most of them had fired the course with the highpowered army rifle, they had drilled, hunted, fished, gone swimming, they had gotten a good coat of tan in short they had had a taste of army life in the open, with plenty of time for rest and recreation thrown in. The battalion formed in front of the barracks at 2:30 o'clock Thursday afternoon, May 8, and left shortly afterward for Camp Perkins, arriving there in time for supper. They broke camp May 20 and came back in time for a late supper at school that evening.

On the march out, the first halt, a brief one, was made at the railroad tracks south of the school. From here on they marched at attention through the business and residence district of Santa Fe Avenue for more than a mile, the band playing in front of the battalion. At Crawford street they turned east and went for some distance out what is known as the Crawford Street road, when they were halted and allowed to fall out for a rest. On arriving at camp, the cadets were well pleased to find that the detail ahead had erected all tents and that supper was cooking. The band and various squads had already been assigned their tents.

Most of the cadets were content to wait in their tents for supper. The more energetic ones, refusing to be tired after their hike, went exploring for possible swimming and fishing places. of the award." Major Perkins was instructor in military science at St. John's School in the spring of '1917. Waited Dinner For One Cadet The second Sunday at camp the whole battalion and visitors waited dinner on one lone cadet.

However, Connor and Ording, Cooks Girls wishing husbands with a the cadet was Corporal Fulwider who knowledge of cooking can get information from Cook Neinmiers. He probably will list high Corp. Alan Conner and Cadet Paul Ording who were his assistants the entire camp. Both these cadets did a large amount of work cheerfully and voluntarily and instructed conscientiously the various cadets on detail at meal time. had gone into Salina some time before for two most important items of the Sunday meal, bread and ice-cream.

When he failed to appear after dinner was nearly an hour late, some anxious cadets who had organized a volunteer patrol, came running into camp. Lieutenant John Pribble and some half dozen cadtes went to the rescue, transferred the ice-cream and bread and hurried back in time to prevent starvation and a mutiny. Ording lived up to his reputation earned the preceding year when he stepped into the kitchen after the cook from town had failed the camp. IS i.