Troop 56 Millington NJ

     When Patrick Golden joined Cub Scouts in 1965, the minimum age was 8 years old.  Troop There were no Tigers but there were Lions and there was no set time limit to be a Webelos.  He got his Arrow of Light in 1968. The Pack size was 60 scouts.  He joined Troop 56 in September 1968 and aged out in 1975.  At that time it was “uncool” to a Boy Scout.

     The troop is still an active and outdoor troop who went on 4 one-week trips each year. The scoutmaster at the time was David Taylor, and he devoted 4 weeks a year for these trips. However, there were not many canoe trips because the troop did not have the canoes we have today. If they were going to go canoeing, they would have had to been rented and many cars would have to bring them, instead of getting to use the canoe racks. To raise funds, they did a paper drive where they would collect newspaper to be recycled.

The troop went on many trips. There were four one-week trips each year; Sabattis, backpacking in the mountains, sail boating, and camping in Harriman State Park in New York. When going to Sabattis, the troop almost always went on the first week. The troop went to Camporee twice a year, spring and fall, but not to Jamboree. In Sunday at Camporee, there was a religious service, either Protestant or Catholic. To some scouts, it exposed religion to them for the first time.

 A major difference back then was that the Eagle Scout rate was low. Scouts were focused less on ranking up, and there were less requirements. Advancement was much less focused on, as scouts were content with just having fun. Instead of books, there were cards that were used to be signed off on. If you lost the card, you would have to start all over. Merit badges were done the same way, but it would be much worst to lose the cards for it. Advancement was not as important back then

The gear that was used back then were heavy canvas 3-4 man tents, and scouts slept in flannel-inside cotton-outside sleeping bags. If the sleeping bag got wet, it would become extremely heavy, and not dry out for days, not to mention a soggy bed. Scout also slept under the stars, with just a tarp above them and their sleeping bags buried in pine needles to insulate the warmth. There was no class B and at the Camporee they wore their class A the entire time.  Cooking was done on campfires, but near the end of Mr. Golden’s time as a scout, stoves were brought to Sabattis. Pocket stew, which was a stew of leftovers, was sometimes made to not waste any food as leftovers that would probably not be eaten. There was a lot of tin foil cooking done, and food prep was done at home so a packet for dinner or so could just be thrown onto the fire.

Mr. Golden’s favorite part was backpacking. He went all around looking for new trails to backpack on.

Troop meetings were done wit everyone in patrol lines.

The troop had a respectable size, but he would have not minded a bigger troop.

Still sees some friends from scouts; some have moved away.

Would like to introduce backpacking to the troop.

In 2007, the 75^th anniversary, Keilblock and Gladstone digitalized many pictures and stuff