Scouting, Volume 25, Number 4, April 1937 Page: 21
34, [2] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Scout Service
in the Flood Areas
(Abridged from Radio Addresses by
Fred C. Mills, National Director of
Health and Safety, Boy Scouts of
America, and Ernest J. Swift, Vice
Chairman of the American Red Cross,
on behalf of Admiral Grayson, Chair-
man, Friday, February 12, 1937.)
REPORT OF MR. F. C.MILLS
Admiral grayson, it is
with great pleasure, and I
i hope pardonable pride, that I
report to you, as Chairman of the
American Red Cross, and head of all
Disaster Relief, briefly on work done
by Scouts and their leaders in the great
flood emergency in the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi River Basins.
Information which has reached our
office through written statements, wires
and word of mouth, and my own ob-
servations indicate that no task was too
humble on the one hand or too mighty
on the other for Scouts cheerfully to
attempt. Invariably too, our records
indicate, they carried through and suc-
cessfully concluded their accepted tasks.
Working constantly under the lead-
ership of the Red Cross and with the
initiative and self-reliance that char-
acterize Scouts, they were constantly
in the thick of the relief effort, whether
mergency!
THE BOY SCOUTS
OF AMERICA
Plead with YOU
To Give NOW
to the
+ RED CROSS nil
FLOOD FUND
The Flood Victims Need
Your Financial Aid AT ONCE
Please Mail Checks to Your Local Bank
Poster printed and distributed by the
Monterey Bay Area Council,
Cal. Scouts
it was collecting clothes, blankets and
food; aiding the drive for funds hun-
dreds of miles from the flood's crest,
or rescuing marooned victims as the
icy water swirled about their shiver-
ing bodies.
First, the following statement from
the Scout Executive of Hamilton,
Ohio is offered as typical of the breadth
of service given:
"Scouts volunteered for service with
the Red Cross immediately upon word
of the disaster. Sea Scouts proceeded
to Cincinnati with their boat and
worked throughout the duration of the
emergency rescuing 92 persons, 8 ca-
naries and 11 dogs. Scouts collected
forty truck loads of clothing, food, sup-
plies and bedding and transported it to
Cincinnati and Portsmouth. I per-
sonally served as treasurer of the
American Red Cross."
And here is a poster printed and
distributed by Scouts from the Mon-
terey Bay Area Council in far away
California. (See illustration.)
In Louisville, Scouts removed nearly
two thousand persons in canoes and
boats from flooded areas without a
single mishap as well as carrying out
every other service that was given
them to do:
One of their most valuable tasks
perhaps was the transporting of doctors
and nurses from hospitals by truck and
then by boats to the homes of those
persons who were too ill to be moved.
In a Memphis Juvenile Court
Building then being used as a baby
hospital, while your splendid Red
Cross Volunteer nurses cared for
nearly two hundred white and negro
baby refugees, Scouts maintained a
messenger and orderly service.
In Cincinnati, the Scout Executive
was given the full responsibility by the
Red Cross for directing the rescue
fleet of five hundred boats which I un-
derstand moved nearly forty thousand
persons.
In Evansville, an outstanding ser-
vice by Scouts was the making and dis-
tributing daily of maps of the flooded
areas, giving the exact location of the
water as it rose and the corresponding
movement of relief stations.
They also gave hundreds of hours-of
labor to the task of fabricating and
liill
Admiral Cary T. Grayson
erecting a five hundred and ten foot
emergency wharf which was used for
unloading refugees and supplies.
A perfectly disciplined negro Troop
working in a school building in Cin-
cinnati remained on duty constantly
when they were not sleeping, giving
routine aid and a series of entertain-
ments with their own musical instru-
ments for the purpose of keeping up
the spirits of the flood sufferers.
In the Auditorium receiving station
at Memphis, our smaller Scouts pre-
pared tags for refugees and acted as
messengers, while the older, stronger
ones, their faces covered with protec-
tive masks, unloaded trucks and sorted
clothing.
In Eastern Arkansas Scouts estab-
lished a feeding station for boatmen
and other rescue workers cooking and
serving hot meals to these men for
several days until the station was fin-
ally taken over by the Red Cross.
Scouts collected 400 oil stoves in
Lexington, Kentucky, and carried
them to South Frankford where they
were turned over to the Chairman of
the Prison Rescue Committee who in
appreciation stated that the Scouts had
literally saved their lives for by that
time the prison was cut off by high
water.
Toledo Sea Scouts transported four
rescue boats and crews from that city
to Cincinnati and for several days
kept constantly at the task of moving
water bound refugees.
At Memphis, your Vice Chairman,
Mr. Feiser, and Dr. DeKline, head
of the Red Cross Medical Service
were very kind in their extremely out-
spoken praise of what they had seen
(Continued on page 24)
APRIL, 1937
The full-sized Troop ti the standard of Scouting
Wage Tii>enty*one
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 25, Number 4, April 1937, periodical, April 1937; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth313026/m1/21/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.