Page 60 - history-of-military-units-in-columbia-county-fl-(1970)-robert-gary-shields

History of Military Units in Columbia County, FL (1970) Robert Gary Shields

The following was written by Cecil "Guinea" Register which tells

of his experiences in the unit during part of this time between wars.

"Dec. 1930. H Company was housed in the Sandlin Building, unstairs

The company consisted of 2 platoons of 3 squads each. The officers were
Capt. Wright, 1st Lt. R. B'. Harkness, Jr. and 2nd Lt. Austin Brown. .The

1st Sgt., Ike Garner, was the only N.C.O. above the rank of the present
E-5. Mess Sgt., Supply Sgt. and Platoon Sgts, were known as buck sgts.
The uniforms were issued and included brogan shoes, laced leg pants,

wrap (wool) leggans, web belt, wool shirts, wool tie and felt or campaign
hats. The first drill check was reduced by $5.00 which was called a
uniform deposit. This was returned at the time you turned in the uniform.

It also served as a fund from which we were sometimes able to borrow
money(25% interest)

The Armament of the company was one 30 cal. machine gun, water cooled
which was hauled on man pulled steel rimmed wooden wheel carts, per squad.
All men carried 45 cal. pistols with the commissioned officers carding

swords or sabers plus pistols. The Machine Gun weighed about 78 pounds
(trypod 48 & gun 30), the cart weighed in excess of 180 lbs.

Soon after my enlistment began, Lt. Brown resigned and \ 1st Sgt. Ike
Garner was commissioned 2nd. Lt. Aubry Peterson became 1st Sgt.
Our division was known as a square division until the middle of the
thirties when all divisions were made triangular. They dropped one

regt, per division and added one platoon per company. During the early
thirties field training was held at Camp Clifford Foster, previously

known as Camp Johnston and now the Jax Naval Air Station. We also had
summer field training in Ala., Mis?, and La. We had a new Armory built,
which is presently the City Hall and was accross the street from our

drill field which was the block upon which the State Exchange Bank is
now located.

The rate of pay for the EM during the period varried from a low of
.85C per day (drill) for the private to $1.80 for the sergeants. It was
governed by the availibility of money.

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