Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts

“The stories captured in Legacy of Honor hold valuable lessons for our country as we face new challenges at home and abroad. These Eagle Scouts will inspire readers to become leaders in serving others.” ― President Jimmy Carter “Whether you choose to become a teacher, a police officer, a doctor, or even the mayor of the greatest city in the world, your experiences as an Eagle Scout will prove invaluable. Alvin Townley's Legacy of Honor does justice to the proud history and bright future of the Eagle Scouts.” ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg “Alvin Townley's book describes how the Eagle Scout program can shape a life. He demonstrates this by providing examples of many former Eagles who have succeeded in life in no small part because of their experience in scouting. Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.” ― Senator Bill Bradley “In Legacy of Honor , we not only learn who many of these Eagle Scouts were, but the kind of leaders they have become and the enormous contributions they have made to their country and the world. In compiling these life stories, Alvin Townley has completed a picture of an extraordinary program and how its training has helped shape equally extraordinary lives.” ― Hon. Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator “Alvin Townley's book reveals the legacy of the Boy Scouts. He relates the adventures and deeds of Eagle Scouts living by the Scout Oath … while contributing to the success of America. An excellent story that will inspire all of us.” ― Captain James A. Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 “The unique leadership role in America over the past century of men who earned their Eagle Scout award as boys is unparalleled in business, the professions, politics, the military and national security. Legacy of Honor explores this extraordinary phenomenon of Eagles' leadership through individual stories, both informative and inspirational.” ―Robert M. Gates, former CIA director and National Eagle Scout Association president“ Legacy of Honor will have a positive impact on the lives of millions of boys and their families. … If everyone in our country lives the principles of Scouting, the best years in our country's history will be in the future.” ― Ross Perot “Scouting and conservation share respect for the natural world, so it always seemed natural to me that many of our staff and volunteer leaders would be Eagle Scouts--this book provides wonderful insights into all that Scouting offers and how it helps develop tomorrow's leaders.” ― Steve McCormick, President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy “Commitment and devotion to the bedrock principles of our country -- optimism, fairness, determination and preparedness – are inseparably intertwined with Scouting. Alvin Townley does a superb job of portraying how Eagle Scouting helps shape these everyday yet incredibly powerful values that serve our families and society so well.” ―J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International Alvin Townley spent a year traveling throughout the country to explore the legacy of America's Eagle Scouts. In thousands of miles of travel, he met with Eagles from all walks of life. The result was Legacy of Honor , a uniquely powerful narrative of character and virtue in American life.Alvin's journey truly began years ago in Atlanta, Georgia, where he followed the Scouting path of his grandfather and father and earned his Eagle Scout rank with Troop 103. He is a Brotherhood Member of the Order of the Arrow and has completed High Adventure treks at the Florida Sea Base, the Northern Tier Canoe Bases, and Philmont Scout Ranch. The author graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He has interned in the U.S. House of Representatives, served on the executive staff of an international consulting firm, and worked for his alma mater, where he built relationships with alumni across the country and spokexa0to classes on corporate strategy and ethics. Alvin currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where he works and coaches at Marist School. He also works with Reach for Excellence, a tuition-free program benefiting talented middle school students from underserved communities. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Legacy of Honor The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts By Alvin Townley Thomas Dunne Books Copyright © 2006 Alvin TownleyAll right reserved. ISBN: 9780312366537 LEGACY OF HONOR (Chapter One)The Second World War The first significant generation of Eagle Scouts earned the rank in the late 1920s and early 1930s. These young men belonged to a Scouting program that had finally become nationally established, having grown considerably from the time of its founding in 1910. Three decades into the twentieth century, the Boy Scouts of America had nearly 1 million members, with troops registered in every state. The Eagles of this generation were shaped not only by Scouting, but by the heady success of the Roaring Twenties and the wrenching uncertainty of the Great Depression. As they emerged from the dark years of scarcity that marked the 1930s, they began to steel themselves for the greater challenge that lay ahead. Bill Kemp, an Eagle Scout and a Scoutmaster for seventeen years, was among the generation of Eagles who came of age during the Second World War. He was also among the last Scouts to see Scouting’s founder, Lord Baden-Powell, and hear his message of peace. In 1937, Bill traveled to the Fifth World Scout Jamboree in the Netherlands where “B-P,” as Baden-Powell was called, gave his farewell address to the boys he loved. The eighty-one-year-old “Chief Scout of the World” urged his audience to be brothers with Scouts of all faiths and backgrounds. He hoped they would keep their memories of the jamboree alive, saying “It will remind you of the many friends to whom you have held out the hand of friendship and so helped them through goodwill to bring about God’s reign of peace among men.” He hoped that somehow, the brotherhood of Scouting would avert the war he feared would come. Regrettably, it could not. “That’s the most vivid memory of my life,” Bill recalled, himself eighty-one when we spoke. “He stood up at that bonfire with a Jacob’s staff and he made a speech and said, ‘You’re my boys and before we meet again, we’ll probably be at war. It’s too bad the rest of the world can’t get along like you can.’” The storm clouds outside the World Jamboree continued to gather, and the days ahead would indeed be as dark as Baden-Powell feared. Sadly, he would not live to see the conflict’s resolution, having died in 1941. Many of the 29,000 Scouts present at the jamboree also perished before peace was restored in 1945. But Baden-Powell’s boys served well. A short decade after their mothers pinned the Eagle medal to their Scout uniform, America’s Eagle Scouts led soldiers onto battlefields around the globe. The founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, with Scouts from around the globeCOURTESY OF BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA Steven Liscinsky of the Second Ranger Battalion traded his Scout pocket knife for an Army combat knife, which he jabbed into the rocky cliffs of Normandy as he scaled Pointe du Hoc before dawn on D-Day, June 6, 1944. On the Pacific outposts of Guadalcanal and Roi Namur, Mitchel Paige and Jimmie Dyess—one an enlisted sergeant, one a commissioned captain—earned Congressional Medals of Honor as they rallied their fellow U.S. Marines against enemy lines. Nearby on the beaches of Tarawa, Corpsman Ken Rook used the skills he learned in First Aid merit badge to help wounded soldiers until a Japanese bullet found his shoulder, making him one of the 3,300 casualties of the infamously vicious four-day battle. With thousands of deeds like these, this generation of Eagle Scouts began to create a true legacy as the collective virtues of their youth carried the nation through the Second World War. LEGACY OF HONOR Copyright © 2007 by Alvin Townley. Continues... Excerpted from Legacy of Honor by Alvin Townley Copyright © 2006 by Alvin Townley. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. 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