Scouting, Volume 69, Number 6, November-December 1981 Page: 48
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Jamboree (from page 26)
load-and-a-half of unopened cases to re-
turn after the jamboree.) "Boys love but-
ter," they said. One-quarter pound a day is
too little. Let's double it." (In the heat of
July 1950, we had melted butter to pour on
everything, including ice cream.) "Eggs
come by the dozen. Make it 24 eggs per
patrol instead of 20." I shot down that
suggestion for those not-needed 20,000
eggs per breakfast. (When you order
half-a-million eggs you can have them
packed an\> way you want them: 10 to each
box with two empty spaces staring re-
proachfully at you.)
The meals at our 1981 Jamboree,
though, were the best ever. There were
new kinds of foods never thought of 31
years ago: turkey loaf, pre-cooked fried
chicken, pre-battered fish fillets. There
were new taste sensations: tacos, salted
cornchips, chuck roast with onion-soup
seasoning, hushpuppies. I got to try them
all as I joined patrols all over the jamboree
site for cheery family meals. It was a joy
for me to see the ease with which the patrol
cooks went about preparing the evening
meals. No fuss, no hassle. And I smiled
thinking back to the 1950 disbelievers in
patrols being able to cook for themselves.
One night I decided to find out how our
city of 30,000 hungry Scouts and starving
Scouters were supplied. Just before mid-
night, when all the boys were off the roads
and fast asleep I left my tent and walked to
48
the jamboree entrance.
At previous jamborees, I had seen
hundreds of trucks bringing in milk and
meat, produce of all descriptions, bakery
items, canned goods, staples. Not this
time. Eighteen tremendous vans arrived at
the head gate, peeled off and rolled on,
one to each subcamp. I caught up with one
of them as it was being unloaded in Sub-
camp 15. Willing hands of a dozen wide-
awake, smiling, chatting Scouters pulled
large containers on special carts off the
van and into the commissary tent: items at
outside air temperature first, then per-
ishables from the refrigerator, finally
frozen items out of the freezer. Within 15
minutes the van disappeared, having
delivered, in one trip, the foodstuffs for the
entire subcamp of 1,200 campers.
Then came the task of filling the patrol
food boxes with the day's rations. There
could be no slip-ups. The contents of each
box had to cover completely the food list
of the meals on the menu of the day.
Everything would be ready "by the dawn's
early light" for every patrol in the sub-
camp to pick up its box.
But by then I was in my bed. I drifted
off to sleep thinking of those astonish-
ing "heroes of the jamboree"—volunteer
Scouters, not just in the commissaries, but
in transportation and security, health and
safety, program and exhibits, and many
other features. These were the men and
women who had willingly given up their
vacations to serve the Scouts, with few
waking hours to witness the jamboree's
multitudinous activities. Few of them even
managed to see the two spectacular arena
shows. Those arena shows!
The pattern for them was set at Valley
Forge in 1950. The opening show the first
night was a historical spectacular. It dealt
with the great events that gained us our
liberty, leading to the achievements of our
immediate forefathers, and ending in the
present. The closing show that last night
was a fun event: bands playing. Scouts
singing, popular national entertainers do-
ing their thing, winding up with an inspi-
rational candlelight ceremony and a fire-
works display that thrilled the Scouts.
And so it went at Fort A.P. Hill in 1981.
The opening show featured a score of
incidents from America's past, narrated by
Burl Ives. Twenty-four hundred Scouts
milling all over the immense arena stage
acted out "America's Heritage" from
colonial times to the present: the first
Thanksgiving, the Boston Tea Party,
Washington at Valley Forge, pioneers
moving west, the driving of the Golden
Spike, the landing of the Space
Shuttle—the whole show tied together by
the inspired singing of the "Re'Genera-
tion" choral group.
And who could forget the closing show
on the last night of the jamboree? At A.P.
Hill it opened with an 18-minute parade of
2,600 patrol flags streaming down the
aisles, bathed in the spotlights from the
light towers, crossing the arena stage and
exiting, to the stirring music of the U.S.
Army Field Band. And then we sang. Burl
Ives urged us on with his happy tunes and
we sang and sang. The Oak Ridge Boys
performed, treating us to a new Boy Scout
song and yielding to our chant for "Elvira,
Elvira."
Then the most solemn moment of any
national jamboree arrived. Our Chief
Scout Executive. Jim Tarr, asked us to
light the candle that each of us had carried
to the arena. By the light of our candles we
rededicated ourselves to the Scout Oath.
Thirty thousand flames reflected in the
eyes of boys and leaders pledging them-
selves, on their honor, to do their best.
There was a lump in your throat: 30.000
Americans pledging themselves to the
ideals for which our country stands.
Then flames snaked into the night sky,
thundering cascades of fireworks that
went on and on for 20 minutes: five tons of
gunpowder and coloring chemicals light-
ing up the arena.
With the last earsplitting bombardment,
the jamboree came to its glorious end and
30,000 Scouts and Scouters and 69,980
visitors hiked back to their tents and cars.
But when everything is said and done, it
was the patrol activities that turned our
tenth national jamboree into the best
November/December 1981 Scouting
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 69, Number 6, November-December 1981, periodical, November 1981; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353615/m1/56/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.