Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories.
–––
I think it’s pretty common for a 12-year-old boy to have an older boy he looks up to, you know, someone he admires and tries to emulate … maybe a lifeguard at the swimming pool, or a pitcher on the high school baseball team.
I had a boy I looked up to that way, when I was 12 years old. His name was “Bert” Sawyer, and he was an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in scouting. I think a boy had to earn somewhere around 20 merit badges to become an Eagle Scout, but Bert had far more than that.
I joined the Boy Scouts soon after my 12th birthday, and at one of our first meetings in the basement of the Methodist church, Bert walked in wearing his Boy Scout uniform, including a wide sash that ran diagonally across his chest. There must have been 40 or 50 merit badges sewn on that sash. I decided right then that I would become an Eagle Scout someday, and I would wear a sash just like Bert’s.
Before working on any merit badge, however, I had to work my way up through the lowest ranks, Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class. That didn’t take too long. I had to tie several kinds of knots, like a sheepshank and clove hitch. And I had to memorize several things, like the Boy Scout Oath. Within a couple months, I was ready to start working on merit badges, on my way to becoming an Eagle Scout just like Bert Sawyer.
My first merit badge didn’t require any physical skills. It had something to do with government. It was a lot like the Civics class I took in school, and I passed the test with flying colors.
Then I set my sights on a merit badge that required me to cook a meal over an open fire. I decided I would cook a hamburger and fried potatoes. I had my dad’s mess kit that he used in France during World War I. It would be perfect for cooking that meal.
But first I built a small wire stand to hold the mess kit over the flames. I made the stand out of wire hangers from my bedroom closet. It worked perfectly, but the day I took the test, at the Legion Park, the wire stand collapsed, and my hamburger and potatoes fell into the fire. When I tried to retrieve them, I burned my hand pretty badly.
I think it was at that point when I started to lose interest in merit badges. Oh, over the next few months I earned five merit badges, earning me the rank of “Star” Scout. But that is the highest rank I achieved. I stayed active in scouting, and I went to Camp Lazarus for a week or two every summer. But wearing a sash full of merit badges was no longer my top priority.
So today, 80 years or so later, the Boy Scouts are still among my favorite boyhood memories,even though I never had a sash full of merit badges like Bert Sawyer.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at williamboyd514@gmail.com