File:Letter, 13 November 1940, Page 1 of 3.jpg

Dear Dad:

I haven’t had time to write since my last letter, so finding a few spare moments on my hands I’ll utilize them in that direction.

I finished firing the range last Friday and in spite of the high wind, between 20 and 25 m.p.h., managed to come out with the high score of the sixty-five men firing for requalification. They’ve cut out two ranges, six hundred yards slow fire and five hundred yards rapid fire, making the highest possible score 250. I shot 219, dropping 31 points for the five ranges, of 61/5 points per range. That score is six points under “Expert”, but still well over “Sharpshooter” and pays three dollars a month extra.

I ran into a streak of bad luck at five hundred yards slow fire. My first two shots were in the black for 5s, but the wind blew the next shot out at 9 o’clock for a four. I put on a half point of right windage, which would change the impact of the bullet 10 inches on the target and bring me back in the black, and squeezed off the third shot. When the target came back up the result of the fourth shot was a four at 3 o’clock."

From the Edward L. Parke Collection (COLL/5627) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division