A LITTLE BOYSCOUT HISTORY. . .

AN AIR FORCE SCOUT FRIEND WHO WAS USED TO BE DEPLOY IN LONDON SEND IT TO ME-HE FOUND A DISPLAY AT A SCOUT TROOP MEETING IN LONDON LAST WEEK THAT I FOUND RATHER AMAZING AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.


GOOD MORNING! A LITTLE BOYSCOUT HISTORY. . .


TIME SEEMS TO BE GETTING BAD IN OUR COUNTRY AS OF LATE. A TERRIBLE ECONOMY WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF A SEVERE RECESSION, AT LEAST LOCALLY WE ARE ENGAGED IN TWO WARS AND TERRORIST THREATS SEEM NEVER ENDING. SCOUTING HAS SURVIVED WORSE CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE LAST 101 YEARS. SHORTLY AFTER THE SCOUTING MOVEMENT WAS FOUNDED BY LORD BADEN-POWELL, THE SCOUTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM ENDURED A WAR (WWI) IN WHICH OVER 50,000 SCOUTS DIED. TWENTY FIVE RECEIVED THE VICTORIA CROSS FOR BRAVERY. SOME WERE AS YOUNG AS 15.

LATER, THROUGHOUT THE DEPRESSION, SCOUTING NOT ONLY SURVIVED BUT THRIVED. MILLIONS OF YOUTHS JOINED THE SCOUTING MOVEMENT ON SIX CONTINENTS.

IN 1939, WITH THE BEGINNING OF WWII, SCOUTING FACED ITS BIGGEST CHALLENGE SCOUTING WAS BANNED, FIRST UNDER THE FASCISTS IN ITALY THEN BY THE NAZIS IN EVERY NAZI OCCUPIED COUNTRY. AFTER THE WAR, IT WAS BANNED IN ALL COMMUNIST COUNTRIES.

DURING THE WAR, OWNING A SCOUT UNIFORM WAS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE IN OCCUPIED COUNTRIES, AND HOLDING A SCOUT MEETING COULD LEAD TO IMPRISONMENT OR DEATH. LOTS OF OLDER SCOUTS JOINED OR CREATED UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS AND HELD ILLEGAL SCOUT MEETINGS, IN SPITE OF THE RISK. YOUNG MEN WHO WERE CAPTURED AND PLACED IN POW (PRISONER OF WAR) CAMPS, SET UP ROVER SCOUT CREWS TO KEEP THEMSELVES, AND SCOUTING ALIVE. THEY CREATED SCOUT TROOPS AND CUB PACKS FOR THE CHILDREN IN THE CAMPS, AND GREW VEGETABLES TO IMPROVE THEIR TERRIBLE DIET. SCOUTING EVEN SURVIVED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, WHERE IT BECAME A BOND BETWEEN BOYS IN THE MOST TERRIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES.

DUE TO THEIR SKILLS IN MORSE CODE, FIRST AID, AND SURVIVAL, THEY WERE RECRUITED TO TRAIN BRITAIN’S HOME GUARD (MILITIA) AND SERVED AS CIVIL DEFENSE AIR RAID WARDENS, SPOTTERS, AND MESSENGERS. THESE BOYS WERE GIVEN RESPONSIBILITIES FAR BEYOND THEIR YEARS. OLDER SCOUTS AND

SCOUT LEADERS WERE RECRUITED BY THE MILITARY TO USE THEIR SKILLS TO
ESTABLISH SCOUTING SKILLS SAVED LIVES ALL OVER EUROPE, AND GAVE PEOPLE SOMETHING WORTH LIVING FOR. WHEN THE ALLIED TROOPS ARRIVED TO OCCUPY COUNTRIES, SCOUTS PUT ON THEIR HIDDEN UNIFORMS TO COME OUT TO GREET THEM IN THE STREETS.

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. . . .. . . . .NOW THINK ABOUT THIS THE NEXT TIME IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF EFFORT TO PUT ON A SCOUT UNIFORM OR DO A SERVICE PROJECT, IF WE ONLY KNEW HOW MANY GREAT AND YOUNG MEN HAVE DIED JUST FOR US TO HAVE THIS NOBLE ORGANIZATION, IF WE ONLY KNEW THE SACRIFICES THEY MADE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF PRESERVING THIS TRADITION, AND YOU WILL SEE. . . . . .