Special of the week; Issue 45-69

And E.R. the national educational radio network presents special of the week the following program was made possible under a production grant from the whirlpool corporation of Benton Harbor Michigan. You're listening to a band. So certainly not a professional band but a group anyway. They're playing a new march and they play it for the first time as we listen. Not bad for only a few minutes rehearsal you may say but their enthusiasm was reflected everywhere about them on the rolling plains and hills of Idaho where we found. The occasion for the formation of this band was that of the seventh national jam bery of the Boy Scouts of America. And it is about that spectacular encampment that we wish to speak and listen for the next 30 minutes.

Over 30000 Boy Scouts and their adult volunteer leaders were there at Farragut state park in the Panhandle country of northern Idaho this summer. Each one of them carried away with him very personal impressions of the jam. And relayed them to the waiting years of over six million boys and men who are now a part of the Scouting movement in the United States. The January was special for many people. People like Astronaut Frank Borman were there. Now you're the future of this country. Or the future of the entire a civilization. And you go back to your various states. Just remember our Courtney our. Thank you very much. Thank you. The great Olympic champion Jesse Owens was there. And as long as we can. Scouting can and. Can embed in the mind of this young student. The importance of service to mankind. I think this is what Scouting is. Lady Ole's Baden-Powell chief Girl Guide of the world and widow of the

founder of Scouting was there. No thank. You. I'm here. You. Know you heard we. Had you we had a wonderful time. I think I. Thought. Former boxing great Archie Moore was there. He gives me a great pleasure to see these lads out here amongst the dirty thousand boys from all over the world. Such a local offices from Farragut State Park told me that he would rather contend with 30000 Boy Scouts of America then 1000 people in his hometown at a football game because of the discipline the aura

the fun that they're having and the constructive method they're going through and this is indicative of the leadership that they get from Boy Scouts of America. Of course the real story of the jam Barry was not to be found in the many visitors of national and international prominence. The heart of the encampment beat in the breasts of the 13 and 14 year old lads who lived together in the tent cities that they created. In a society that every day becomes increasingly urbanised. These boys live the principles and skills that they learned in their scout troops across the country right here. Camp saw it. And it's divided up into four patrols. It's an eight man patrol eny and there's four tents to patrol and to kind of join them all together we have a dining fly over it. And in each tent to immensely. And we more or less share duties between men. The word jam reviews itself a curiosity. We asked Lady Baden Powell if she might know of its origin. We were not surprised to find that she had a ready answer.

The skull was there for gradual development and why people just don't feel. Well. It was suggested we should. Meet. Them. In the Land of its rtg. To which boy scouts might be invited to be nice to have a special name for these get. My husband heard about a gathering in Australia quite often known as a cuddle buddy. He thought that it might be a good name but it was a pill stadium name and also it didn't apply to all the people in Europe. But he did say to these fellows come in all be jammed together. So we called it a sham really. That was for you. And it has. The. Whole. Idea. I should. Tell you is to the future Lady BP as she is affectionately known by are many American Scouting friends was celebrating her 80th birthday during your visit to

the United States this summer. But if the much talked of generation gap exists between her and the scouts that she loves so well it would seem that neither is willing to admit. Her boundless energy and her keen interest in the scouting that was displayed about her seemed to set the tone for boy and leader alike. Her comments were a touch point with history that all in attendance cherished. I just. Think. We. Live. In a. Crate. In your car. When you are young. Predator all grown men. Who will be able to remember that can you know. That the. War on. Terror. Where. Very. Big.

On the part of the men themselves. Behind. This. Oh all. That has ever been before. For many of the boys this would be their only opportunity to participate in a national scout encampment. Every effort was made in the planning of the jam bery to allow boy to meet Boy Scouts to work together when there was work to be done. But to be together was the purpose behind it all. Whether they were hiking the deer

belt trail to discover the high adventure that lay along its winding way or participating in a practical conservation project in the exhibits area. Boys were exchanging ideas and ideals during their week together. Some of the activities were just plain fun such as the spectacular white game. Here a group of scouts seated in the median strip right here in the middle of friendship Boulevard at the seventh national January they're frantically writing something on colorful pieces of paper what's going on here fellows say this is a. This is a fantasy game that everybody in the jam are you hating on it. And when we're doing it I see it the God built the star and each person got a letter. Now we're trying to do is magic these letters and if you met if you were a letter she went a little strip saying get this or let's build a server mean to you. That's. It says we should unite and together we

can build and we can serve the nation and build a better nation together. You think this game is a pretty good way to get acquainted with some other folks. Yeah I think it's a real good idea. What are you writing on the backs of these cards. Our names and addresses. OK what happens now. We can write to people that we have collected or friends. In the building. Are you enjoying the jam. Yeah. Yes I am very much what happens tomorrow here for instance. Well we've got our own programs like boating and canoeing and things like that and also we'll just be meeting other boys and making new friends. It sounds as if you're having a good time if participation is any mark of success. You know Boy Scout activity the white game has got to be the greatest success of the jam. This was the first national January to have a full aquatics program. The scouts were able to take advantage of the many water sports facilities that had been built for the world jam bery

that had been held in this same site just two years before. The beautiful beach that had been designed for this previous tamborine was enlarged to serve the needs this summer. And Frank it so happens that we are right now looking out and over seven different beach areas. You may hear in the background the boys who are involved in swimming. And believe it or not the seven areas will accommodate it will put 21 troops in here at a time. So this means that I will be able to accommodate about eight hundred forty people or so well. More or less maybe even a few more. At any particular hour. Now obviously in this jam reground people have to travel miles and that's on foot to get down here. But once you do get here this is a little baby called Beaver Bay. A little bay on the side of a lake on doré It's a beautiful spot. You should really see it it has nice. Sand that's been brought in all of the depths have been carefully graded and regulated to at the maximum we have about

eight to 10 feet right down the middle. And then we have all of these here and there these floats rather for the seven swimming areas. We checked the temperature this morning and believe it or not temperature in the swimming area stood at 54 degrees. Now is that really better than it's been because yesterday morning about the same time it was at forty eight. So progress is being made. I had the privilege of spending a few quiet moments with Lady Baden Powell one afternoon. She told me of her pride in her husband's early work in the scouting movement particularly because he had so carefully designed the organization to be adaptable to various societies and to change within a given society over a period of years. Scouting in America is on just such a threshold today. Jesse Owens told of the impact that scouting is having on the neighborhood in which he grew up. I think that I can only take my own community. In Chicago and if this can serve as a criteria I think that a movement

is on the way because we find that youngsters in our community have vitally vitally interested in scouting and we have more youngsters. And we signed up more youngsters but our big problem is to find the leadership to be able to handle these young people. We need a lot more scoutmasters and I think that the black leadership in our communities today are beginning to work toward the point of where we can really service the people of our community. Sure we have a lot of problems but we also recognize the fact that we have got to have continued leadership. And it's only going to come from the young that we have within that community and to indoctrinate him with the responsibilities of what he has to do once he assumes this post. Now if our present day leadership and I think that many of them are thinking not about today but the many to morrows that

is going to come. And he feels that we must prepare. This youngster today for a better tomorrow. Mr. Owen This may not be a fair question you haven't been here very long but would you give us some impressions of the January. When I came in here last night. And I rode through the. Grounds. I had a chance last night to speak to several groups. And I had a chance to feel the enthusiasm of these young men. And I have the chance of shaking hands with a number of them. I had the opportunity of sitting down with some of the leadership within this camp. And as I began to move around last night and I came in this morning. The city has certainly grown within the last few hours that Ive been here and I guess that those that came earlier and saw the city spring up. It must be a great thrill arching more exhibited his concern for the new

role that Scouting can play in the lives of the boys that he works with. Frank my role in scouting is that way. Community relations specialist and I travel all over the country which gives me a wonderful opportunity to see and examine and feel what is happening in the different communities all over the country. I know that many things need to be done in the United States but I think boy scout the one youth group that is servicing more boys than any other group in the United States and I think that once this big machine gets rolling right we can really roll forward with American youth because I know that American youth will be the ones that will be depended upon to save the world of tomorrow if there is to be a tomorrow. We'll have to do it in harmony like the harmony structure is. Meaning Every Good Boy Does Fine black white red

yellow and brown. If you get the chance in time and this is the time now is the time to help young people. You cannot spend too much money. You cannot spend too much time helping to develop the youthful. Products we have in this great country because surely all of the flowers of all of them are rosy and the seeds of today. The time is now. We must get these boys on the right path. What Scouting is doing a tremendous job so of youth clubs all over the nation. We must get together as people and understand to see the situation to see the impossibility of continuing for them unless we are together and we must be together in harmony. Champion in the last 60 years or so Scouting has very frequently been accused of being a white middle class kind of organization. Do you see this sort of work that you're doing changing that role for scouting in the inner city and if so just

how well Scouting has been changing the image for quite a number of years and I am want to accelerate the pace I go into the in a city this is my specialty going into the inner city to tell the scout executives there what is needed in his particular council area. A traditional part of every Jam bery is the mass gathering of all scouts and camp. Farragut state park provided a beautiful setting for the spectacular show. A natural bowl amphitheater was found and improved upon with the result being an outdoor meeting place of unparalleled grantor. But the scouts were not to be outdone. The natural setting was complimented by the impressive spectacle of nearly 35000 scouts and leaders dressed in their olive uniforms and bright red jackets. They marched into the arena singing and shouting. They sat attentively as speeches were made. They enjoyed the entertainment provided by their fellow scouts and by top professional entertainers. And as hard as

it was to believe when one is surrounded by all those scouts and a like number of visitors. There was fellowship. Sometimes it took the form of a good yell I'm going to raise my head way over my shoulder. Oh no you go with one life and you oh boy I want you to let me have my own little law. Thought that through all. It certainly happened as the scouts listened to the live wire singing group up with people who had composed a song for their jam or a concert.

Thank you thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm. The the temporary RAM from July 16th through July 22nd. On July 20th one of the most far reaching events in the history of mankind took place and American astronauts set foot on the moon. For the lands at Farragut state park it held special meaning because astronaut Neil Armstrong was an Eagle

Scout. The scouts in Idaho sent their brother scouts in space a telegram. For. All of you Scouts and Scouters will be interested in knowing that the following message you went today. To Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong. And his all American crew en route to the moon aboard Apollo 11. 35000 Boy Scouts and leaders at the seventh national jam bery Farragut State Park. Gratefully acknowledge your latest demonstration of pioneering leadership. Our jam is building to serve. We salute you and your colleagues in space. And here on Earth. For all you are doing. To build greater opportunities for service to man's

peaceful progress. 35000 Scouts salutes are pointed in the direction of Apollo 11. And the valiant man who guided toward new frontiers of accomplishment. The message of. President Barber chief scout executive myself as the January camp chief. And Robert Billington jam bery director. During a special mast flag raising on the National Day of participation we talked with a scout about that moon landing. And talking with Scout Ricky Knowles who is an Eagle Scout and whom I suspect after just having heard President Nixon's proclamation read by another Eagle Scout has some reactions. Ricky how about it. But the greatest thing that Nixon could do because. Silda first was on the moon is something that's almost

unbelievable. You know it was a little kid just watching science fiction movies and you say it almost impossible to actually saw it live on TV as I totally for Taff last night because I got so wrapped up in Washington. And you say displaying the flag. Is one way the best way I could think of to. Display our how proud we are that we're the first nation to sew full moon. Colonel Frank Borman himself a former scout was President Richard Nixon's personal envoy to the jam bery. Colonel BORMANN pilot of the two hundred and six orbit Gemini 7 flight and crew chief of the first moon orbiting Apollo 8 brought a message to the scouts. I'd like to share with you a minute my sentiments. The past few days. After all I've been working with. That so far. Some 70 years of what we saw. On the moon. And I had the

distinct pleasure not only of watching our dreams come true but I'm sure I know. What the president of the United States. And I mean really after he had talked to that of a man. Kneeling But on the. Right. In the White House and as he was leaving for. Orders he came over to me and drew me aside. And he said Frank I want you to go out there. And represent. Was. I never said. That I want you to. Agree. With. He also asked me. How. Thanks.

For the fruit of the slam. My first question. Thank you very much. In a time when our world is moving forward with unprecedented speed. There is a need for a new scouting program. No more the organization devoted to helping sweet little ladies across busy streets. No more an organization devoted to the outdoor recreation needs of the middle class. The times demand more of any youth organization today and scouting is moving to fill those needs. Perhaps the most impressive and surely the most significant activity of the week in Idaho was that of the gem bery youth forum. Beginning in each of the thousands of patrols and camp. Meetings were held to discuss the pressing problems that America faces today. Urban buildings soil water and land conservation. Air pollution. Racial injustices. War and its

implications. The credibility gap and many more subjects were discussed in these smallest Scout units. Reports were then made at the troop level and from these each of the 20 January camps glean the best thinking of their organizational parts. Finally in a marathon of serious discussions a statement of concerns was hammered out. This final report of the jam or EU forum was the result of literally hundreds of thousands of hours of concerned thinking on the parts of the scouts assembled. It was presented to the jam bery at the closing night arena show. We have time for only a brief indication of the content of this document but this sampling should serve to indicate the seriousness with which the forum participants approached their charge. For many of us. The far program has been the highlight of this jam bery. We have come to the realization that all of us share a deep concern. About ourselves. The world we live in. And about our fellow

man. We have discussed ways in which scouting. Can truly make a difference. In the lives of all mankind. And most importantly. I think we have developed some positive suggestions. As to how we. As individuals can point to Scout Oath and ideals into practice. Hopeful way. Through this form we have also demonstrated to the adult Scouters and to our ally. Not only our intense desire. To express our concern. But they're given the opportunity. We can to saw these problems. In a positive and meaningful way. The 19 camp representatives here on stage and for many hours in preparation for this report. We have to decide how best to express 30000 points of view.

And yet fulfill our obligation to the team building interest. We identified the major problems with seem to confront most of us. And then determine the course of action. To which we want to commit ourselves. Finally. And perhaps hardest of all. We prepared a theory for a suggested project. Which we feel if carried out. Can help eliminate. Some of the problems in the world today. That's the way it was for a week this summer in northern Idaho. The Boy Scouts of America had a jam bery. Fun certainly not a lad went away without a full measure of the excitement and joy that his build into a truly spectacular time such as this camping to be sure. Days filled with healthy cooperative effort that takes the form of cooking keeping a neat campsite or helping a friend shore up his tent nights filled with campfires and

sleep in the crisp dry Idaho Air. The skeptic will say and quite rightly so that these are all things that a boy could have gotten in his own backyard and without all the trappings of Scouting at that. What was special about such an experience for these scouts and their leaders. The spirit of these encampments isn't a theory a thing. But one that is ever present. Each boy comes away with the compelling notion that he is part of something big bigger than the thirty five thousand persons who were there in Idaho. Indeed bigger than the six and a half million who make up Scouting USA. It's as big as the idea of freedom. It's as dynamic as the right to learn. It's as important as the privilege of questioning. Some of the benefits of the 7th national jam bery are indeed a media. The fun the high adventure the fellowship. The Idaho sunshine. But other benefits will not be reaped for years. They begin to form is these young

men returning to their homes and think about their experiences and scouts and leaders begin to live the chandlery motto. Building to serve. This program was produced in the radio studios of Western Michigan University. Building to serve was written produced and narrated by Frank Jamison under a grant from the whirlpool corporation Benton Harbor Michigan. This is the national educational radio network.