tobenheim
Member
I recently received this in an email from my father-in-law. I was shocked at how things had changed since he was a high school student and thought you all might get something out of it as well.
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I graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School, Washington D.C. in 1964. Every entering 10th grade boy in the D.C. public high schools were required to be in the Cadet Corps. After that it was optional, but I stayed in all three years. I was Regimental Commander my senior year, drilling in uniform every Monday morning with the Corps who all carried M-1 Gerand rifles, albeit with no firing pins.
I was part of the cadet honor guard for the Christmas 1963 lighting of the National Christmas tree by President Johnson, as well as the1964 Memorial Day wreath laying on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. For those occasions, I didn’t carry a rifle, but a dress sabre that is now hanging on my office wall. I later carried this same saber in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
I was on the city’s championship rifle team my junior and senior years. Every school had a 5-lane, indoor 50 ft rifle range in the basement, and as a senior, I drove my father’s 1951 Chevy around the city with our team packing our rifles and ammunition in & out of every high school for competition matches. In fact, the reason our high school team was so good was that our Boy Scout & Explorer Post 33 had Wednesday night rifle practice at the University of Maryland’s 20-lane rifle range in College Park, and three of our five team members had started shooting when in junior high school, and we were already NRA Distinguished Expert riflemen. Every Wednesday afternoon, I walked home about 6 blocks from Coolidge wearing my shooting jacket with the school’s 22 caliber Winchester Model 52 target rifle slung over my left shoulder. After dinner, I would carry it 2 more blocks up to Takoma Park Presbyterian church where we met for the drive out to College Park. I then reversed the rifle carrying on Thursday morning back to school.
I’d love to remind Congress (who govern Washington, D.C.) of this history. Yes, guns don’t kill people, hate-filled people kill people.
And, yes we did start each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance over the school’s intercom
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Tobenheim
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I graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School, Washington D.C. in 1964. Every entering 10th grade boy in the D.C. public high schools were required to be in the Cadet Corps. After that it was optional, but I stayed in all three years. I was Regimental Commander my senior year, drilling in uniform every Monday morning with the Corps who all carried M-1 Gerand rifles, albeit with no firing pins.
I was part of the cadet honor guard for the Christmas 1963 lighting of the National Christmas tree by President Johnson, as well as the1964 Memorial Day wreath laying on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. For those occasions, I didn’t carry a rifle, but a dress sabre that is now hanging on my office wall. I later carried this same saber in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
I was on the city’s championship rifle team my junior and senior years. Every school had a 5-lane, indoor 50 ft rifle range in the basement, and as a senior, I drove my father’s 1951 Chevy around the city with our team packing our rifles and ammunition in & out of every high school for competition matches. In fact, the reason our high school team was so good was that our Boy Scout & Explorer Post 33 had Wednesday night rifle practice at the University of Maryland’s 20-lane rifle range in College Park, and three of our five team members had started shooting when in junior high school, and we were already NRA Distinguished Expert riflemen. Every Wednesday afternoon, I walked home about 6 blocks from Coolidge wearing my shooting jacket with the school’s 22 caliber Winchester Model 52 target rifle slung over my left shoulder. After dinner, I would carry it 2 more blocks up to Takoma Park Presbyterian church where we met for the drive out to College Park. I then reversed the rifle carrying on Thursday morning back to school.
I’d love to remind Congress (who govern Washington, D.C.) of this history. Yes, guns don’t kill people, hate-filled people kill people.
And, yes we did start each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance over the school’s intercom
***
Tobenheim