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On a hot and clear June
day, the Scouts assembled
at the Pegasus Scout Camp,
in South Midland County,
to perform their Jamboree
Shakedown. |
Tom Florer gives
instructions to some of the other members of Troop 788 during the Shakedown. |
Scouts practice their troop
parade marching skills at
the Shakedown. |
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Troop 788 practicing their
camp flag ceremony at the Shakedown. |
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| (L-R) John O’Grady, Tim
Florer, James Busby, Tom Florer and Mike Koen seem pretty awake for their
5:30AM troop meeting before getting on their American Airlines 7:00AM flight
to Washington D.C. on July 17, 1985. |
A Local News
Crew interviews a few of our Troop Leaders during our Washington D.C. tours. |
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Troop 788 taking it
easy after visiting the National Zoo.
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Troop 788 waiting to
take our tour of the Capitol Building.
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| We visited the office of
our U.S. Representative, Larry Combest. Representative Combest wasn’t
in His office at the time, but we caught up with him on the steps of the
Capitol. |
We asked the
Congressman’s Staff if we could sit in his chair and put our feet up on
his desk. They said, sure, but Tim Florer was still a bit nervous
about doing it. |
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| (L-R) Colt
Rogers and James Busby seemed a little more comfortable with the idea. |
Our next stop was
the office of Senator Phil Gramm. Here
the members of Troop
788 are greeted by the Senator in
his reception room. |
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| We told the Senator
about our exploits in Congressman Combest’s office...and the Senator said
we were welcome to put our feet up his desk too. Here James Busby
takes him up on his offer. |
(L-R) Tim Florer,
Armando Subia, Tommy Hill, Jr. and Nick Tynes wait their turns to sit at
the Senator’s desk. Yes, Tim put his feet up on the Senator’s Desk. |
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| Congressman Combest may
not have met us in his office, but he did meet us on Capitol Hill and sent
each Jamboree participant this nice signed photograph taken on the steps
of the Capitol. |
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Troop 788 members mill around
outside the White House
after our tour. |
Here the X-15 hangs in the
Air and Space Museum. Several of us burned a couple of rolls of film
here. |
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| Here the Honor Guard at
the Tomb of the Unknowns prepares for a wreath laying by a Turkey delegation. |
The delegation from Turkey
is escorted to the Memorial Amphitheatre. |
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Troop 788 members view
the Eternal Flame at John F. Kennedy’s grave site.
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Troop 788 visited many other
sites in Washington D.C. which did not allow cameras, or pictures were
not taken. These included:
The National Archives
The FBI Building
Inside the White House
The Smithsonian Museum of
Natural History
The Library of Congress
At the National Archives,
a couple of our scouts didn’t heed the “no flash photography” and were
whisked away by security. Many of us thought they were going
to be arrested. They weren’t arrested, but they did get a real firm
talking to and had their cameras confiscated. Our unit leaders had
to retrieve their cameras after our tour was over.
For many of us West Texas
Boys, being in Washington D.C. was our first opportunity to ride a subway.
The D.C. Metro system was pretty awesome.
The only snag we had during
our Washington D.C. tour was at our hotel. The Harrington Hotel played
host to several jamboree contingents and eating in the Harrington cafeteria
was included in our room rate. Well, the cafeteria had some major
equipment problems during our stay and had to be shut down. Imagine
hundred of scouts flooding the nearby fast-food restaurants on the few
dollars the hotel refunded us! |
After Washington D.C., we
went to Philadelphia. Here Mike Koen is taking a picture of Independence
Hall while we wait outside the Liberty Bell Pavilion. |
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This is the Liberty Bell.
While admiring the Liberty Bell, James Busby asked the Guide if he could
take a picture of the clapper. The guide said they couldn’t see why
not…... |
Here is a view *inside*
of the Liberty Bell.
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Inside Independence Hall
where the our founding documents were drafted. |
| While in Philadelphia the
Troop also visited:
The Portrait Gallery Second
Bank of the United States
Franklin Court (Franklin
Museum and Postal Museum)
Ben Franklin’s Grave Site
Christ Church
The Troop left Philadelphia
to tour the U.S. Naval Academy and the Maryland Statehouse in Annapolis,
Maryland. After Annapolis the Troop spent the night in Washington
D.C. The morning we went to Jamboree we first stopped Mount Vernon
and took the tour of George Washington’s home. |
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Here was the gateway for
Subcamp 16. The thing that
brought us here everyday
was FOOD. |
A picture of the Sea of
Tents in an around our Troop Campsite. |
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The Adult leaders of
Troop 788 just passing the time.
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| All of the Subcamp 16 Scouts
attending the South Central Region Show. |
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James Busby takes a break
from his cooking duties. |
The Apache Helicopter which
was to be on static display for the day flew over our camp every morning
and night. It was a very popular site. |
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| On set-up day
at the Jamboree each patrol in every troop was instructed to dig a liquid
waste sump for things like our dishwater. Well, we happened to be
camped next to a Troop from the Quachita Area Council in Louisiana.
This troop had a rather large scout who was intent on digging a sump as
deep as the handles of a post-hole digger.
He started the sump
out fast and after a few feet he hits something hard. Not to be deterred
by this obstacle, he raises the post-hole diggers way above his head, and
heaves them into the hole with all of his might. As he bends over
to retrieve the post-hole digger, he is blown back by a large stream of
water. Everyone in our camp who had been watching this spectacle
realized he had just broken a four (4) inch water line! It would
have been funnier if he had just flooded his own camp, but soon our whole
troop was digging a ditch to keep our camp dry!
Little did we know that this
Scout had done us a BIG FAVOR. For in a few short days, Hurricane
Bob would drench the Jamboree and at least we had a drainage ditch around
our campsite.
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Our campsite looked OK after
Hurricane Bob. We had a few wet sleeping bags, but all of our tents
survived. The Army issued blankets to those who needed them and local
laundries and the military got all of our sleeping bags dried by the next
day. |
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Mark Burdett and James Busby
stand next to Sam Howell’s famous sign.
Fort A.P. Hill:
Hurricane Bob Disaster Area.
Dear Mom,
788 OK
Dear Lord Baden,
We are Prepared “Kinda”
Dear Lord,
Why
This sign by our gateway
was picked up by the AP and published in several newspapers around the
nation.
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The files below are in Adobe Acrobat
For a schedule of Troop
788 trip go HERE
To view Scoutmaster's
PreJamboree letter go HERE
Our thanks to Kevin Morris,
Midland, for scanning and providing us the group photo from the Buffalo
Trail Council office. And to James Busby, Jesse Smelser and Tom Florer
for providing us with the names of participants. Also to James Busby
who provided us with all the photos of the trip and captions under the
photos.
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