Boy Scout Song
From the reminiscences of Richard Tanner, son of John H. Tanner and Eva Beach:
"You asked if I had ever been in the Boy Scouts and I am proud to admit that I was a Boy Scout from 1930. This was the time of the Great Depression. Folks had very little money to spend on pastimes such as Boy Scouts. The only part of the uniform we could afford was the neckerchief, and I was proud of that because all the troop was in the same financial condition. All in all, we had a great time and I can still taste the potatoes cooked in mud right on the coals in the campfire. I stayed in the Boy Scouts until I was 19 years old. I was the assistant scout master of Troop 37 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We had a scoutmaster who was there in name only, so it was my troop even if I was too young to be the scoutmaster.
Speaking of Scout Songs - we had a troop song, too, but it was written in a different day and age. Our hearts were influenced by World War I.
The tune was "A Long, Long Trail A'winding." Here are the words we had -
We are Boy Scouts young and lively
And to all our friends we would tell
That what ever we are asked to do,
Every Scout shall do it well,
We are proud of 37 and its Leaders, tried and true
We will raise our arms in proud salute
To the Old Red, White and Blue.
It was written by Victor C. Rideout, my Uncle who was married to Elizabeth Beach. In 60 years the pace of life and the heroes of the young boys have changed, note that the first World War still had a great influence on our lives. There were less thoughts of violence in those days, but it was soon to change with such men as Mussolini and Hitler."
With special thanks to Patricia Rideout DeFeo and family for sharing their father's poetry. And to Judy and Bill Tanner.
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