Cache is not at posted coordinates. The caches in this series all contain questions related to the history of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. All the information needed to answer the questions in this 21-cache series can be found by going to the corps Guidon.
Six of the Medal of Honor caches (seven total) all contain hints to help you find a 21st cache. You need to complete those first before going after the final one in the series. All containers in the series, except for the final, are small homemade bisons constructed out of PVC with soda bottle tops. They are painted in such a way as to be VT appropriate.
Best of luck! Contact cacheNquilt or myself directly with questions. Take care, and best of luck!
cacheNquilt
kemallor
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The Story of the Skipper (taken from the VTCC Guidon)
THE PLAN
The famous game cannon of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets was born in the dreams of three cadets of the class of 1964 and its metal tested in the heat of battle between VPI and VMI. For a third year, two close friends in the Corps, “Butch” Harper aka Alton B. Harper, Jr. and “Sonny” Hickam aka Homer Hadley Hickam, sat in the stands of Victory Stadium in Roanoke, VA in anticipation of the Thanksgiving Game with VMI. The Tech Corps formed on the field first and took position while the VMI Corps marched into the stadium. Both Corps of Cadets took their traditional positions on opposing sides. And for the third time that Butch and Sonny had witnessed, VMI brought in its game cannon, “Little John.” Oh, it was a small thing that looked more like a mortar than a cannon.
They loaded it, fired it, and the whole VMI Corps swelled with the chant, “Where’s your cannon?” as a perfect smoke ring rose towards the sky. This was too much to bear! Butch looked at Sonny and Sonny looked at Butch and the two made a solemn pact right there in the stands. This would be the last time that VMI would be allowed to “out cannon” Virginia Tech. They vowed to build the largest game cannon in the world. We won the game.
The whole thing took on the form of a major military operation. Sonny found blueprints for a Civil War cannon barrel and Butch looked to find out where they could get a carriage made for the cannon. But the proverbial problem soon became evident. Where on Earth would they get the money? They attacked it on two sides. First, they decided that it would have to come from the Corps itself with some help from Alumni. Now just how do you convince 1,700 folks to give money? Sonny came up with the idea to have a wooden mold made of the barrel at our college of mechanical engineering. They took it on as a class project.
Sonny and Butch decided on a strategy. They would call a meeting of every company and every squadron and they would take the wooden mold of the barrel of the cannon to every meeting. George Fox, another friend from A Squadron, volunteered to help. What a wonderful moment. Every person should have one magic moment in life where they could enjoy something so accepted as “Skipper.” The huge wooden mold of the barrel did its job. It inspired every member of the Corps.
The meetings, 16 in all, made it evident that never again would the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets go into battle without a gun. At the end of each meeting, each cadet got up, went back to his room, and brought back what he could spare. We asked each for just one dollar and all of the brass they could give. They brought their grommets, they brought their brass plates, they brought their old brass buckles. This cannon would not simply be built with their dollars, but with their hearts. It is for this reason that you can find the class numerals of 64, 65, 66, and 67 on the face of the barrel.
It was a moving experience. Sonny and Butch found it hard to look at each other after each meeting because they knew they would each see a tear in the eye of the other. These were the best guys in the world. They had never seen anything so emotionally supported then or now. They would not trade that feeling of being a member of a group of which they were so proud for anything in the world.
The money was raised and they were a little short on brass, but Sonny brought in some brass fittings from his father’s mine in West Virginia to fill it out and some bullet casings were gathered from the firing range. All the brass was taken to the Virginia Foundry Company in Roanoke Virginia. Butch had called the President of the Company a few months before and told him what they were about to do after swearing him to secrecy. Butch asked him how much it would cost and he astounded him with his response. “You don’t have enough,” he indicated, “but I’ve thought we needed a cannon for a long time too. Son, I’m a member of the Corps Class of ’37. We’ll be making that barrel for you for nothing. Just blow the heck out of them for us, will ya?”
It was a deal. He took our brass and wooden mold and set about the task of casting the barrel. A few days later, Butch received a phone call from Mr. Holman. He asked where they had gotten the brass for the barrel and Butch told him the story. It seems that not all of the shell casings they picked up from the floor of the "ring range were empty. He said when they poured the brass into the vat for melting, everybody was ducking for cover as the foundry was filled with the sound of gunfire. Well, after all, no good cannon worth its salt is made without a little effort. He indicated that the brass they had given him was too soft without support and recommended that they let him add some navy gun metal brass for safety. It was done. Holman asked if he could bring the Roanoke Times in on the secret. Butch told him yes, if he would wait until the edition that prints directly after the game because they had big plans for VMI and it absolutely depended on their not knowing. He agreed, and Butch knew he could trust him because he was one of them. It was now time to turn to the carriage. They found the place that made the old Civil War gun carriages for the National Battle Field Parks like Gettysburg. It was the Lorton Reformatory, in Lorton, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C. They were given all of the money that Butch and Sonny had saved by not having to pay for the barrel and they agreed to make the carriage to hold “Skipper.”
THE NAME
The cannon did not yet have a name and no one could have ever dreamed of the circumstances that would cause it to have one. Time was getting short. The big game was fast approaching. Everything was in place. It was time to pick up the barrel and the carriage. They rented a truck that Sonny and Butch drove and a chase car was driven by George Fox and a few others also from A Squadron. They stopped by the foundry in Roanoke first to pick up the barrel. After all, if the barrel wasn’t ready, there was no need to go on to Washington. The whole foundry turned out. They were as proud of the barrel as Sonny and Butch were. They shook hands, wished them well, and gave a big Tech cheer as they headed out to get the carriage. It was a long trip, all the way across the state. The reformatory was a bit foreboding, but the carriage was waiting just as promised. It took all of them to load it into the truck. They had it! They had it done! And they were on the way back to show it to the whole Corps. It was the best feeling in the world. Nothing like it. After about 20 minutes, the chase car that was now the lead car, pulled over on the shoulder and waved us to pull over. Our truck did not have a radio. George Fox came back to Sonny and Butch and indicated that it had just been broadcast that the President had been shot in Dallas and that they did not know how severe it was. They continued back to Blacksburg, not in the exhilaration that they had experienced, but with a tremendous foreboding. In those days, they did not know whether it was an international plot, whether war was imminent, or what the future would hold. It was like going from basking in the warm sun to being plunged into the abyss of a cold dark tunnel. There was no more joy in the trip. Everyone was quiet. By the time that they arrived back in Blacksburg, the President was dead. They all felt terrible, but wanted to do something in honor of our Head of State. They remembered an old military tradition that, at the death of a President, all military installations give a 50 gun salute to their fallen leader. It was then that they knew what they had to do. It was then that they knew what they had to name their cannon. It would be named “Skipper” in honor of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his naval background.
THE SALUTE
The first firing of “Skipper” would be a 50 round salute to our fallen president. It would be the test of the barrel’s strength and it would be the salute of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. As they placed “Skipper” in position on the lawn in front of Brodie and Rasche Halls, General Schewe appeared. Sonny had quickly devised special charges that were quite rudimentary. But at the time, it was all they could do. Butch saw a look in the General’s eyes that spoke a thousand words. Never did he dream when he allowed us to proceed on building the cannon, that it would be christened in this way. It was an emotional moment for everyone. “Skipper” did just fine. A tradition was born.
THE GAME
After they found out that the Thanksgiving Day game would indeed be held, they immediately began laying plans for introducing “Skipper” to the opposing Corps of Cadets from VMI. They met with Curt Tompkins, Captain of the “Highty Tighties.” He was brought into the big secret. They would take the cannon to Roanoke the night before the game and hide it in the stadium. They would let our Corps and the VMI Corps march in the parade and into the stadium. They would take their place in the stands and let the VMI Corps form and take their place as normal. They would let them bring in “Little John,” their mortar, and fire it as usual. They would let them chant, “Where’s your cannon?” as usual.
At that time, Sonny, Butch, and George would stand and signal Curt and the Highty Tighties to strike up the march of the Charioteers from Ben Hur. 50 freshmen members of the rat class, with Sonny as their commander, would pull in “Skipper” with two long heavy ropes, place it in position aimed directly at the center of the VMI Corps of Cadets and fire it! And fire it they did. Sonny and George placed a charge in the barrel and looked at Butch, with a twinkle in their eye, as if to ask if that was enough. Butch knew the answer they were looking for. Another charge would be appropriate and yet another. They placed a triple charge into the cannon that day. What happened after that became a legend. The folks sitting next to the VMI Corps later told that it blew the covers o! of half of the Corps and a huge announcement came pounding from the press boxes. It seems that the reporters had to place their hands on the glass of the press box to keep it from vibrating out of its frame. The VMI Corps was quiet. They knew never again to challenge the veracity of VPI’s artillery. The mission was complete. The duty was done.
Homer Hickam would go on to be famous again as the subject of a Hollywood Movie, based on his experiences growing up in Coalwood, WV. The name of this movie is:
- Rocket Boys N 37 3.190 W 76 24.765
- October Sky N 37 3.416 W 76 24.809
- Matawan N 37 3.190 W 76 24.565
- The Coal Wars N 37 3.390 W 76 24.565
*** As an aside, Mr. Hickam speaks to the cadet regiment regularly about his life, growing up, and his experiences in the corps. He admitted that, while experimenting with how much and what type of powder to use when firing the Skipper, he and his roommate blew up their room in Rasche Hall, causing structural damage and requiring that a reinforcement beam be placed in the building to keep it safe for another fifty years. ***
