12 – Membership

For this week's theme I wrote another story about my Uncle Harry...

We have a first picture of Harry in a uniform at age 7; I haven't found that he was a member of any scouting organization at that age, so it was probably dress up. It is clear that he liked uniforms from a young age.

Age 7 in Milwaukee; age 15 as Eagle Scout; West Point Cadet

Harry joined the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization sometime in the early 1930's. BSA had been founded just a couple decades before, in 1910, inspired by a similar organization in England.

"Created in 1910 during the Progressive Era the Boy Scouts of America was a civic reform, middle-class, professional organization intent on building the characters of America's juvenile boys, believing that America's transformation from a rural and small town culture to an urban society had removed some of the traditional character building opportunities from the boy's normal daily routine." [Phillips, pg. 1]

Harry became an Eagle Scout November 30, 1936, a few months shy of turning 15.

Harry, member of Fond du Lac Troop 5

Harry had 22 merit badges out of a total of about 100 possible at that time; 21 were required to become an Eagle Scout. His were pioneering, swimming, public health, personal health, stamp collecting, civics, first aid, reading, athletics, first aid to animals, pathfinding, safety, animal industry, reptile study, aviation, scholarship, wood carving, bird study, leathercraft, life saving, cooking, and camping. The process of becoming an Eagle scout surely helped him on his application to West Point, and later when he was in the army.

In 1937 Harry took a train from Fond du Lac to Washington, D.C. to attend the first National Boy Scout Jamboree held there from June 30 through July 9. The 12 July 1937 edition of Time magazine ran a long article about the jamboree: about 25,000 boys camped out in Potomac Park north and south of the Tidal basin for 10 days, most coming by train to the event. Delayed 2 years due to a polio outbreak, this was the first national gathering of members, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the organization. It had to be quite the adventure for a 15-year-old boy!

Harry on the train to Washington, with friend Bill Korrer

Harry also attended summer camp for eagle scouts, and remained active in the organization. A January 22, 1939 article notes that he was an assistant scoutmaster for a new St. Joseph's Church-sponsored troop 48 in Fond du Lac, shortly before he would head off to the University of Wisconsin, Madison for a first year of school. 

The idea of membership begs the question "who was excluded?" There were black scouting troops early on, but integration came much later. Girls had their own organization, and both excluded gays, and the openly non-religious. 

The Boy Scouts is now, of course, fully integrated, and accepts both boys and girls. Troops may still exclude the openly agnostic or atheistic from membership. Until 2015 there were restrictions on gay membership. Current membership policy states: 

"It is the philosophy of Scouting to welcome all eligible youth, regardless of race, ethnic background, gender or orientation, who are willing to accept Scouting’s values and meet any other requirements of membership." [BSA]

Harry died on a battlefield in Germany, less than 9 years after he became an Eagle Scout. His life and service was honored by the local organization after World War II ended.

Sources

Phillips, John Calvin (2001). Selling America: the Boy Scouts of America in the Progressive Era, 1910–1921 (PDF) (Thesis). University of Maine. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2008. Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.

Time. 1937. “SCOUTS: National Jamboree,” July 12, 1937.

“Membership Policy.” Boy Scouts of America. Accessed March 21, 2023.