Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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17 Inspections. Held by His Excellency the Governor on Jan. 14, 1941, and by Major Murdoch, V.D., Officer Commanding, Bermuda Cadet Corps, on Nov. 26, 1940. Lectures. Lt. A. McDonald, 4th Queen ' s Own Cameron Highlanders, gave an interesting account of his experiences in France in the early days of the war. In February, the Company ' s Instruccor, Sgt. Pedrolini, B.V.R.C., lectured at Prospect Camp on Defence Entrenchments. An account of this, written by Cadet Cox, H., appears elsewhere. Field Day. An excellent Field Day, organised by Maorj B. B. Walton, Brigade Major, was held on Feb. 26 at Castle Harbour. Saltus Company was in the attack, and carried out their operations with workmanlike precision. At the conclusion of the battle. His Excellency the Governor complimented No. 2 Platoon for the manner in which they captured an enemy position on the left flank, and especially commended Sgt. Petty for his skilful leadership. Band Drum Major, Sgt. Welch, P. S. Under the enthusiastic in- struction of Sapper Aitken, B.V.E., and Sapper H. Williams, B.V.E. the Band, which commenced the year with an unusually large num- ber of recruits, has made considerable progress and is now well up to the standard of past units; New members in Cadets: Tucker (J), Greenwood, McLay, Davis, Whitney, Taylor, Howe, Tucker (D), Parker and Darrell have brought the strength up to 24. The Band was in much demand in Camp and are to be commended on the way in which they voluntarily practised on frequent occasions in their spare time. Bugles have been kindly presented this year by Capt. Johnson, R.A.O.C., and H. Browne, (O.S.). A Day with the Cadets On February the 4th, the Saltus Cadets marched to Prospect to inspect some trenches which had been made by the soldiers. They were accompanied by the band, and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, including a number of coloured children who joined us on the way. After a brisk half hour ' s march we reached our destination, and were shown the trenches which were situated on the side of a hill to the east of barracks. There was a number of them, each in a different stage of construction.

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16 contestants saw the target area clearly marked out and examples of fair scoring blows and some of the commoner foul blows. Our thanks are due to Major Walton and the two men concerned. We are also grateful for thc ' r assistance in the preliminary fights to Messrs. Harry Williams, S. Floyd, Chummy Hayward and P.C. Arthur Childs. Results: T. K. Shanks beat E. A. Hutt; D. Harrison beat B. B. Burland; H. E. Gibbons beat C. A. Pantry; R. G. Fowle beat J. D. E. Gibbons; C. Terceira beat A. R. Mercer; D. L. Spurling beat F. W. WiUiams (t.k.o.) ; L. G. Pantry beat H. C. D. Cox; P. N. Spurling beat H. R. Outerbridge (t.k.o.); P S. Welch beat C. G. Pantry (t.k.o.). F. B. R. Cadets Promotions: Sergeants — Cpl. Moniz, M.N. , Thompson, R. R., Welch, P. S., and Petty, E. Corporals— L. Cpls. Adderley, F. W., Fall, T. N., Pantry, C, Rutherford, D. L. Cpls.— Cadets Gamble, F. C, Mayne, C, Lough, J. L, Leseur, H. A., Outerbridge, H., Trimingham, J. Efficiency Badges. Obtained by Sgts. Motyer, J., Benevides, E. , Welch, P., Petty, E., and Thompson, R. R. Cpls. Adderley, F. W., Pantry, C, Fall, T. N., Rutherford, D. L. Cpls. Floyd, S., Mayne, C, Leseur, H., Gamble, F., Lough, J. and Cadet Spurling, P. N. Strength— 90. Camp. Held in 1940 at Warwick from July 2-9. This year the Corps shared camp with a detachment of B.V.R.C., an ar- rangement which proved very satisfactory. Saltus supplied 2 full Platoons, No. 3 (Sgt. Benevides) and No. 4 (Sgt. Adams). Both Platoons were prominent in various activities. No. 3 winning the Inter- Platoon cricket shield and No. 4 the Inter- Platoon Competition, judged by Quartermaster- Lieut. Clarke. His Excellency the Governor ' s visit of inspection was marked by an excellent P.T. display and demonstrations of Field Work. Cadet Curtis, P. had the signal honour of winning £1 offered by His Excellency for any Cadet attaining in his presence a score of 70% on the range. Shooting. An excellent miniature rifle has been presented to the Saltus Company by Lloyd Jones, Esq. In addition, this year Cadets have for the first time used in practice on the range Service rifles fitted with .22 Morris tubes, a type eminently suitable for their subsequent training with regulation Service weapons.

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18 Sergeant Pedrolini led us to the first trench, and started on a most interesting lecture which lasted for a brief half-hour. As he led us from trench to trench, our knowledge of modern warfare grew, as he told us of the uses of the trench against attack by aero- plane, tank and artillery, and of the protection it afforded the men against bullets and shell-splinters. The first object of interest was a Crawling trench, at the end of which was a Weapon Pit and an uncompleted trench. The Crawl- ing trench was only 18 inches deep, and gave very little protection. It was made so that the men could crawl from trench to trench and thus be able to communicate with one another. The next trench we looked at was a completed one. It had been dug by tasks as the others had been. A task consisted of digging a hole 6 feet long, 6 feet deep, and 2 feet wide. Each man is assigned to a task, and in addition, a Crawling Trench has to be dug. The completed trench was a work of art in comparison to the others. It was 4 feet wide, and approximately 8 feet deep. A firing step is made to enable the men to fire over the top. The sand-bags made a very good elbow rest, and the wooden flooring at the bottom of the trench served to keep the soldiers ' feet dry. The revetments were made of oleander boughs which gave a very smart aspect to the trench. The next thing we saw of interest was a machine-gun trench, which was very much smaller than the completed trench we had just seen. The gun was fired from a standing position. These little machine-gun trenches are usually placed on the flanks of the main trench in order to produce an effective cross fire. We were shown one or two more trenches, and then fell in for the homeward march. We left with the band playing lustily, and the boys in high spirits. So ended one of the most interesting Cadet afternoons we have had for a long time. H. C. D. C. World Today Club The last two terms have seen a considerable increase in the membership of the Club. Of necessity, at the present time, the war is the chief subject discussed at meetings although local affairs and world affairs distinct from the war have had their share of attention. This is in accordance with the original object of the Club, which was to discuss any current problems and matters of general interest both in Bermuda and overseas. A new feature was inau-