US Enters World War II

The United States entered World War II after the surprise attack by Japan on December 7, 1941, on Pearl Harbor.

Many Scouts served valiantly in the service of the country expanding on the service that was rendered during World War I. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an Arrowman, signed a letter asking Scouts "to take an important commission as Government Dispatch Bearers for the Office of War Information (OWI)." The Boy Scouts of America would become the "Official Dispatch Bearers" for the OWI and the main workforce for a poster distribution system. Thousands of young men were responsible for the delivery of posters to shops all across America.

Scouts also did many other things such as planting trees, and collecting tin, aluminum, rags and tires for recycling into war materials taking a lead role in "the war at home". Carroll A. Edson was called back to active duty, having served in the reserve since World War I, and served in the infantry in Kansas. Before leaving the military, Edson rose to the rank of Colonel. It is known that at least Unami Lodge, Philadelphia and Delmont Lodge, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania issued celluloid buttons with broken arrows to honor fallen Arrowmen during World War II.

2, Non-Scouting

National Meeting Cancelled

At the invitation of A. Frank Dix of Tali Taktaki Lodge, Greensboro, North Carolina the 1942 National Meeting was scheduled to go to the South for the first time in history. With the size of National Meetings growing so briskly it was anticipated that as many as 1,000 Arrowmen might attend. No longer could they meet at a Scout camp. The National Executive Committee selected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the meeting site. For the first time, delegates would not be responsible for their own bedding.

The selection of the University of North Carolina meant that some fellow brothers in the Order would not be allowed to attend because the University was segregated and would not allow non-whites. As it turned out, the meeting was cancelled and our Order never held a National Meeting at a location that excluded some members.

On July 14, 1942 National Secretary (this is the point in time that the term National Scribe permanently changed to National Secretary) H. Lloyd Nelson sent a letter regretting to inform all lodges that the National Meeting was cancelled because of World War II wartime restrictions. He further stated that the hope was that after the world conflict was over that the OA would re-schedule the event for the University of North Carolina.

The OA did not hold a National Meeting or NOAC in the South until 1977 at the University of Tennessee.

2, National Event, OA, Scouting

First Flap - Ajapeu Lodge

Over the years there have been over 25,000 different flap shaped badges made for the OA. In total over ten million (10,000,000) patches have been made, worn, and of course, traded. The members of Ajapeu Lodge, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, wore the first of all of those flaps on their uniform shirts. It was also against BSA insignia guidelines.

At first they did not order a separate patch for their shirts. Circa 1942 lodge members began bringing their shirts to a local seamstress who would directly embroider the lodge totem, a running deer with an arrow behind it, onto the uniform pocket flap. A few years later they found it easier to have the design embroidered onto a piece of uniform colored material that could be crimped onto the pocket flap. Later circa 1949 they made a more finished flap patch with their name and other relevant information.

2, Insignia, OA, Scouting

History of Pocket Flap

It is strongly recommended by the National Committee that these emblems be made to fit the shape of the right shirt pocket flap. The right shirt pocket flap has been approved by the National Committee on Badges and Insignia for official Order of the Arrow Insignia where the other emblems are only temporary insignia when used on the uniform. It should be realized that this is a great advantage and a compliment to the Order of the Arrow. -THE ORDER OF THE ARROW HANDBOOK pp. 64 & 72, 1954 printing, 1950 edition

In the 1930s the Scout uniform was a showcase for all sorts of colorful Scouting related insignia on the shoulders, sleeves, and collars, as well as above and on the pockets. In fact, the only areas of the Scout uniform spared from this potpourri of decoration were the back of the shirt and pocket flaps. The pocket flap eventually became the official location for wearing Order of the Arrow insignia, but not without a few twists and turns.

The usage of Order of the Arrow insignia posed an interesting dilemma for the Scouting Insignia Committee, since prior to 1935, the Order of the Arrow was not even an official part of the Boy Scout program. Thus, how could OA insignia have any legitimate place on the Scout uniform? Early insignia mostly consisted of totem pins intended for civilian wear only. Those patches that were created typically were for wear on Indian costumes and sweaters.

As time progressed, the idea of OA insignia was encouraged.  In 1945 the OA received approval to wear patches on the Scout uniform.  By 1948, the year the Order of the Arrow was fully integrated into the Boy Scouts of America, the new Order of the Arrow Handbook written by National OA Committee member and long time badge collector J. Rucker Newbery, devoted two entire pages to pictures of local lodge insignia. At the same time that the official Handbook encouraged the use of “cloth insignia” for identification, the 1948 edition of the Order of the Arrow Handbook contained an omission and an inadvertent inclusion that would change the history of OA insignia forever.

The omission was the OA Handbook advocated the use of lodge insignia, but failed to specify where this insignia was to be worn. While such an omission would seem inconsequential at first glance, the official location of no other Scouting insignia was left to the imagination of the wearer. The net result of this omission was that local lodges were left to decide where to wear their insignia.

Several different locations were chosen. Mazasha Lodge of Mankato, Minnesota wore its badge on the right shirt pocket while Ay-Ashe Lodge of Manitowoc, Wisconsin wore its badge on the merit badge sash. Blue Ox Lodge of Rochester, Minnesota wore its badge above the right pocket where a jamboree badge would go, and Chappegat Lodge of New Rochelle, New York wore its badge slightly lower, resting on top of the program strip that said Boy Scouts of America. In yet more examples, Achtu Lodge of Jersey City, New Jersey located its badge on the right shoulder of the uniform and Siwinis Lodge from Los Angeles, California wore a tree-shaped badge on a neckerchief. Massasoit Lodge from Quincy, Massachusetts wore its badge on a Scout jacket and Tamet Lodge from Santa Monica, California wore its badge on the red and white arrow sash. Other lodges still wore their totem badges on Indian costumes and sweaters.

The inadvertent inclusion on page 21 of the 1948 edition of the Order of the Arrow Handbook was profound. At the bottom of that page was pictured a dark badge depicting a leaping stag. Behind the stag was an arrow pointing left. What made this patch remarkable was its shape. While Order of the Arrow badges and totems existed in almost every conceivable configuration, this badge was unique in its squat inverted pentagon form that unmistakably resembled the flap over the pocket of the Scout shirt. In fact, this badge was made in the exact colors of Scout shirts of its day, khaki and “Explorer” green and was worn by its lodge members on the right shirt pocket flap. This was, in fact, the first flap badge.

The members of Ajapeu Lodge of the Bucks County Council, Doylestown, Pennsylvania issued this first flap pre-1947. Unconfirmed reports list the date as early as 1943. It is not known who thought of the idea for a flap-shaped badge or who designed the first flap for Ajapeu Lodge. One story about its inception is that during World War II an unknown Scout’s mother actually embroidered the stag and arrow design directly onto the uniform flap for those Scouts inducted into the OA. Another account has a local tailor embroidering the shirts for the Arrowmen of Ajapeu on the right shirt pocket flap. How much of the story is fact and how much is folklore is not known. What is known is that after World War II this design was Swiss embroidered into large, un-bordered pieces of cotton twill material and then crimped by lodge members to fit the shape of the pocket flap.

The 1948 first edition of the OA Handbook was distributed that summer to the delegates in attendance at the National Conference and many Arrowmen went home with either the flap or the story of the flap insignia from Ajapeu Lodge. As the Handbook was later dispersed to all Arrowmen across the country, every lodge had an opportunity to see the unusual pocket flap badge with the leaping stag. Apparently not many lodges were quick to act. Of the more than two hundred and fifty lodges that had badges by the summer of 1950, less than five of those lodges chose the pocket flap shape and design for their patch.

In fact, the problem still remained: Order of the Arrow insignia had been authorized without specifying the exact location where such insignia was to be worn. This problem was solved in the very next printing of the OA Handbook. On page 62 of the 1950 edition it stated: “It (the embroidered emblem) may be worn on the right shirt pocket of the uniform.” This, of course, was the same location where temporary insignia was worn.

After release of the initial printing of the 1950 edition of the Handbook, an even greater problem was discovered. The BSA Insignia Committee became aware of the fact that the OA Handbook was circulating showing a piece of insignia that was meant to be worn on a place of the Scout uniform that was not allowed. When the second printing of the 1950 edition of the Handbook (in 1951) was published, the picture of the badges now appearing on page 19 had been reshot, being identical to the original photo in every respect except one: the Ajapeu flap was missing and in its place was a round badge from So-Aka-Gha-Gwa Lodge of Bloomington, Indiana.

While some Arrowmen may have noticed the new omission from the Handbook, the vast majority of members were unaware of the fact that pocket flap badges were not allowed. Lodges, apparently oblivious (or in defiance) to the no flap rule, made pocket flap badges.

In 1952, Dwight W. Bischel published The Wabaningo Lodge Emblem Handbook. The first real text on Order of the Arrow badges, Bischel’s book showed seven different lodges having flap shaped emblems. It is now known that there were at least seven other lodges that had flap badges at the time of Bischel’s book.

By the 1953 National Scout Jamboree in California, the notion of the pocket flap was catching on, and certainly those in attendance could not help but notice the proliferation of pocket flap badges worn by the delegates. At this point, the Insignia Committee was faced with a dilemma. On one hand, it could outlaw the unofficial insignia. On the other hand, rather than trying to squash what had become a grass roots movement, it could go with the flow and make official what was already becoming a matter of practice.

In 1954 the BSA National Committee on Insignia declared the right shirt pocket flap as the official location for Order of the Arrow insignia. By 1960, ninety percent of the active lodges wore pocket flap badges. The last active original lodge (Cherokee Lodge, Birmingham, Alabama) to resist developing a flap shaped patch made the conversion complete with the issuance of its first flap in 1973.

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1942 National Executive Meeting

With the cancellation of the 1942 National Meeting due to wartime restrictions a special National Executive Committee meeting was called. It was held on December 27 – 29 at the Hotel Bellevue-Stratford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In some ways the meeting was a throwback to the old Grand Lodge days when the national meeting was held at a hotel.

Joe Brinton served as chairman of the Nominating Committee and reported that as a result of an advisory ballot a slate of officers was nominated and elected. Four-time National Scribe H. Lloyd Nelson of Unami Lodge who had served with distinction since 1933 was selected to serve as National Chief. Nelson became the first non-professional Scouter to serve as Chieftain of Wimachtendienk. John C. Norsk of Allogagan Lodge, Springfield, Massachusetts was selected National Secretary and Richard H. Heistand, Nentico Lodge, Baltimore, Maryland was selected National Treasurer. The other members selected for the National Executive Committee were George Mozealous, Joseph Brinton, J. Rucker Newbery, Herbert L. Gaskin and R. L. Van Horn. George E. Chronic was the new representative selected by the National Council, BSA.

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250th Lodge Formed

Minnewasco Lodge in Sault St. Marie, Michigan became the Order's 250^th Lodge chartering on September 9, 1943. World War II had not slowed the growth of the Order. Indeed, there was as great a need as ever to find young men willing to unselfishly serve others.

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Twelfth National Lodge Meeting

Shawnee Lodge, St. Louis, Missouri at their Camp Irondale, hosted the 1938 National Meeting. Just like the 1936 National Meeting, the 1938 National Meeting was no longer handling Order of the Arrow business, with the notable exception of National Lodge officer elections. The National Executive Committee handled the business of the Order and had increased in number from three to five members plus a National Council BSA representative.

The official statistics reported at the meeting demonstrated the dramatic growth of the OA. At the time of the meeting there were 103 active lodges and for the first time over 10,000 active members and over 25,000 initiated. The OA was a nationwide growing phenomenon. A record 448 delegates attended the meeting from a record 44 lodges. After traditional reports from the national officers, the meeting broke into eight discussion groups.

The discussion groups each had a theme and delegates decided which one was of greatest use or interest to themselves and their lodge. This is the first example of training at a national conference of Arrowmen where multiple class options were offered. Training has remained over all of the years an essential function of national gatherings of Arrowmen.

The groups were:

Lodge Service – How the lodge can best serve their council, camp and community.

Lodge Activity – Discussion of events, social and service related for lodges. In 1938 many lodges had still never held a lodge fellowship.

Costuming Honors Teams – This was a discussion dedicated to regalia for the Ordeal, Brotherhood and Vigil ceremony teams.

Lodge Secretaries – Led by National Scribe Nelson, this was a session dedicated to the role of lodge secretaries. Nelson advocated that an adult should be in charge of the records in multiple year terms for continuity because of its complexity and importance. This concept, adult officers is how the Order had always been.  Ten years later, Nelson had a very different view about the need for youth leaders.

Lodge and Chapter Chiefs – This group discussed the role of lead officers in the Order. In 1938 chapters were almost exclusively in highly populated councils. The typical chapter in New York or Chicago had a dedicated Scout camp for their district or division. A chapter chief represented as many or more Arrowmen than the typical lodge chief.

Camp Attendance Promotion – It is a long held tradition of the Order to give service in the promotion of summer camp and camping to the troops throughout the council. The OA was still at its core a camp society.

Lodge Activities in Lone Troop Camps – In 1938 there were still areas of the country, typically rural areas, where troops had not or could not form. Many lodges had council boundaries that included Lone Scouts. This session discussed ways to involve Lone Scouts in the Order.

Order of the Arrow in the Scout Troop – This session discussed what Arrowmen could do within their troops.

National officer elections were held. The nominating committee selected two Arrowmen for each office and 10 choices for the five Executive Committee positions. For the first time only the winners’ names were recorded in the minutes. All of the officers elected were adults and professional Scouters with the exception of H. Lloyd Nelson now of Kuwewanik Lodge, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was re-elected National Scribe. Future Chief Scout Executive Joseph A Brunton of Anicus Lodge, Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania was elected National Chief. Brunton was the second National/Grand Lodge Chief that would later serve as the head of the BSA as Chief Scout Executive. George Mozealous from Owasippe Lodge, Chicago, Illinois was elected National Treasurer. The Arrowmen elected to the National Executive Committee were Joseph Brinton, Carl Bryan, Thomas Cairns, Walter Gunn and Merle Shippey, the Supreme Chief of the Fire for the host lodge, Shawnee.

2, Elections, National Event, OA, Scouting

Joseph Brunton

Joseph A. Brunton, Jr. (June 26, 1902 – July 8, 1988) was an Arrowmen and a career professional for the Boy Scouts of America. He served as National Lodge Chief in the Order from 1938 to 1940 and in the BSA National Council as the fourth Chief Scout Executive from 1960 to 1966.

Joseph A. Brunton, Jr. was one of the charter members of Octoraro Lodge, West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1926. In 1936, at the meeting of the National Lodge, Brunton, serving as Scout Executive for East Boroughs Council, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania was elected National Lodge Treasurer and then in 1938, at the age of 35, he was elected National Lodge Chief. Under his tenure as chief, the idea of area “fellowship” meetings was established. This would be the start of “sectional” meetings to be held in each area; what we know today as Section Conclaves.

Chief Brunton was instrumental in creating the OA Distinguished Service Award (DSA). In 1940, at the 25th Anniversary National Lodge Meeting, he presented the first DSA to E. Urner Goodman. He himself later received the Award in 1946.

Brunton became a professional Scouter at an early age, and served in several local council positions, including Council Scout Executive. He became a member of the BSA National Council in 1952 as Director of Church Relations. In 1957, he was promoted to National Council senior management. He was appointed by the BSA National Executive Board to become Chief Scout Executive in 1960. Brunton was the second National Chief to rise to the position of Chief Scout Executive; the man he succeeded, Arthur A. Schuck (Chief Scout Executive 1948-1960) had served as the second Grand Lodge Chieftain in 1922.

During Brunton’s tenure, youth membership continued to expand in both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting. Various changes were made to the Exploring program, including a stronger emphasis on career exploration and post specialty programs, in order to retain teenage youth members and attract additional teens to the program.

Brunton was awarded the Bronze Wolf, by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, in 1965. In 1966 he was awarded the Alpha Phi National Distinguished Service Award and in 1973 he received the Silver Buffalo Award.

2, Elections, National Event, OA, Profile, Scouting

150th Lodge Formed

On June 5th, 1939, the Order added its 150^th Lodge. Nakona Lodge 150 of Lubbock, Texas had received its charter into the still rapidly growing Order.

2, OA, Scouting

25th Anniversary of the OA

The twenty-fifth anniversary of any organization is a time for celebration and reflection. The celebration took place at the 25th Anniversary National Meeting held at Camp Twin Echo. The delegates wore silver colored neckerchiefs. The Distinguished Service Award recognizing those individuals most responsible for leadership and service in the Order was created. From such humble beginnings Wimachtendienk has become a growing nationwide Scout phenomenon.

At the end of the first summer of OA in 1915 there were 25 Arrowmen. 25 years later the Order was active in 164 councils with an active membership of 16,000 Arrowmen. Over 37,000 Scouts and Scouters had been inducted.

The most significant milestones were the formation of The Grand Lodge in 1921. That gave the Order a national structure. In 1922 the OA was recognized as an official BSA experiment. That allowed the Order to grow on its own merits. In 1934 the OA achieved recognition as an official BSA program. That allowed them to grow in the regions around the country and gave them the legitimacy needed to have a national structure.

What remained was full integration in to the National BSA; that would allow the Order to expand to nearly 100% of the councils in the nation. Professional Scouters still led the Order on the National level (with the notable exception of H. Lloyd Nelson). The National Executive Committee had not yet been transferred to volunteer Scouters with support from Scouting professionals. Likewise adult Scouts, both professional and volunteer led the lodges. That still needed to evolve to volunteer advisors working with youth leaders.

2, OA, Scouting

Roosevelt Elected President

Our nation’s longest-serving President (12 years) took office in 1933 with the promise that he was going to bring the United States out of the Great Depression. President Roosevelt entered the White House already as an active Scouter.  On August 23, 1933 President Roosevelt became the first and only president to be inducted into the Order of the Arrow.  

He served as President of the Greater New York Councils and as president of the New York Boys Scout Foundation. During that time, he led the development of the Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp (TMR) from 1924 to 1928. In 1930, the BSA presented the Silver Buffalo Award to the then Governor of New York. He utilized the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a part of the New Deal, to build roads that are still used at TMR.  As President in 1937, FDR attended the 1st National Scout Jamboree. Roosevelt ultimately accumulated no less than 24 years of service to the Boy Scouts of America by the time of this death in 1945.

2, Non-Scouting

Tenth Grand Lodge Meeting

After requesting to host the Grand Lodge Meeting for ten years, the OA came to Chicago, hosted by Owasippe Lodge. Included in the host Owasippe Lodge contingent were several members of the all African American Takodah Chapter making the 1933 meeting the first that can be verified to be an integrated national OA meeting.

Many of the 252 delegates from 23 lodges attending the 10th Meeting of the Grand Lodge took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Century of Progress World’s Fair (and the lower promotional train fares.) This meeting was very different than any previous Grand Lodge meeting. The rules were suspended. The normal business of officer reports, committee reports, and by-law amendments were dispensed with. Instead, the delegates gathered in a casual manner to discuss the impending issue of official recognition from the BSA. Goodman gave a brief history of how the first stage was 1915-1921 and the six years it took to form a national organization and another year to be a BSA experiment. He described 1921-1933 as stage two. BSA recognition of the OA seemed all but assured, and the delegates at this meeting would decide what stage three would look like.

Through informal discussion it was determined that issues of supply chains would be eased through using BSA channels. The greatest benefits foreseen was that the OA could use the BSA region system (the BSA divided the nation into 12 regions) and that would mean the Order could more efficiently spread throughout the nation.

The Grand Lodge determined that an Order of the Arrow Transition Committee should be formed. The Grand Chieftain would chair the Transition Committee. The Transition Committee would have absolute power to negotiate with BSA National Council.

In elections Thomas Cairns of Unami Lodge was elected Grand Chieftain defeating George Davey of Sanhican Lodge, Trenton, New Jersey. Bert Case of Shawnee Lodge, St. Louis, Missouri was elected Grand Vice Chief in favor of R.L. Van Horn of host Owasippe Lodge. H. Lloyd Nelson of Kuwewanik Lodge, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (formerly of Unami Lodge) was selected Grand Scribe defeating Joseph Brinton of Suanhacky Lodge, Queens, New York. Both Nelson and Brinton would give many years of service to the Order in the decade plus to follow. Joseph Pattison III, Unami Lodge was re-elected to a third term as Grand Treasurer over Earl Blake, Wyona Lodge, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

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