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NOAC 1961

For a fourth time the Order returned to Indiana University for the 1961 National Order of the Arrow Conference. A record 2,800 delegates attended training classes, participated in campcraft and joined in fellowship. The Conference theme was, "Weld Tightly Every Link – Brotherhood – Cheerfulness – Service – Camping".

Making a return to the Order of the Arrow was Co-founder Carroll A. Edson. Edson had last participated in the OA in 1933. Dr. Goodman brought Col. Edson back. Edson had been involved in a non-Scouting career in the time following World War II.

Arrowmen flocked to finally see the two founders together. The number one prize was to obtain their signatures on an OA sash. Anytime, anywhere the two Founders stopped together, whether it was a campus bench or a sofa inside a dorm, a line would immediately form and Goodman and Edson would cheerfully oblige and sign sashes. This tradition lasted until the last Conference they attended together in 1979, although the opportunities became limited in the latter years.

The Conference Committee of Area Chiefs challenged the Arrowmen to Build, Serve and Achieve. The Distinguished Service Awards (DSA) were presented. Goodman again gave the final challenge to the assembled Arrowmen.

3, National Event, OA, Scouting

Direct Service Lodge Formed

On May 1, 1962 Gamenowinink Lodge was chartered for BSA members in Direct Service Council. The lodge did not become functional until 1968.  Direct Service Council was created for members of the BSA not served by local Scout Councils domestic or abroad. Generally these were Americans and their dependents stationed on military or diplomatic duty, but also included Americans abroad for business opportunities. Any group of five or more Arrowmen served by Direct Service Council could form a chapter. With the formation of Gamenowinink Lodge the OA was present throughout the world.

3, OA, Scouting

OA Abroad

For the first thirty years of the Order, all lodges chartered were from BSA councils within the United States. The first lodge not located in a state was in a US Territory. Nanuk Lodge from Alaska Council chartered on March 20, 1947. In 1947 a single council served Scouts throughout the entire Territory of Alaska. The geographic area served by Nanuk Lodge was almost equal to the area of all of the other existing active lodges combined. Eventually the Alaska Council would split into three councils.

The first lodge to form in a foreign country was Chiriqui Lodge. In May 1948, Canal Zone Council received its charter. Scouts were initiated at Camp El Volcan.

On January 18,1951 Cuauhtli Lodge chartered for the Scouts of Camp Aztec. Camp Aztec was a camp for the BSA in and around Mexico City, Mexico.

The Scouts on the Big Island of Hawaii, Territory of Hawaii chartered Kamehameha Lodge serving Camp Holomua and the Kilauea Council on March 30, 1951. Two other lodges formed on the Hawaiian Islands, both after statehood in 1959.

Black Eagle Lodge chartered on September 25, 1952 serving Transatlantic Council. Transatlantic Council served all of Europe and a few places beyond. Black Eagle Lodge fellowships have been likened to mini NOACs. That is because many of the lodge members were originally from other lodges and Arrowmen have learned to include the Black Eagle Fellowship as part of a summer Europe tour itinerary. A single fellowship could have Arrowmen connected to as many as 100 different lodges in attendance.

Hinode Goya Lodge chartered for Far East Council on August 2, 1953. The lodge served BSA members throughout Japan and other Far East countries.

Yokahu Lodge chartered on May 5, 1954 for BSA in Puerto Rico. The lodge started at Camp Guajataka.

On March 22, 1957 Kootz Lodge chartered serving Southeast Alaska Council. Southeast Alaska was one of three councils from the split of Alaska Council. A third Alaska lodge formed (Toontuk Lodge) after Alaska became a state in 1959.

Baluga Lodge formed at Clark Air Force Base, Philippine Islands in May of 1959.The lodge is renowned for issuing a beautiful and rare flap patch and neckerchief. The embroidery was hand-loomed Asian embroidery and had a very different look from domestic badges. The lodge only existed for a few years. Baluga Lodge was absorbed by Hinode Goya Lodge and became a part of Far East Council.

Gamenowinink Lodge was charted by the Order on May 1, 1962. The lodge did not commence functioning until 1968.  The lodge was technically headquartered at the National Office, which at the time was in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Gamenowinink was the lodge for Arrowmen in Direct Service Council. Direct Service Council is the BSA council for Scouts and Scouters located anywhere in the world not served by any other extra-territorial BSA Council.

In May 1969 Virgin Islands Council split off from Puerto Rico and formed its own lodge. Arawak Lodge was formed at Camp Great Pond.

The last lodge to form outside of the United States was Achsin Lodge. Achsin Lodge was chartered in 1968 for Chamorro Council and served Guam. Chamorro Council merged five years later into Aloha Council based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 1979 there was an attempt to form a lodge out of the Gamenowinink Lodge chapter for Direct Service Council Arrowmen in Iran.  There were many BSA members based in Iran at that time and the 1979 World Jamboree was scheduled to be held there.  A charter was set for approval and a number, 575, was assigned / requested.  Even a flap patch was made.  But Gondwanna Lodge never was launched.

3, OA, Profile, Scouting

1956 DSA Recipients

The following were presented the DSA at the 1956 National Order of the Arrow Conference at Indiana University - Herman Brandmiller, William D. Campbell, Jack Champion, James R. Feil, Julius Hayworth, Lyndon S. Holm, Walter Hubbard, Sidney B. North, Jack Obermeyer, Henry Vassel, and James L. Waters.

3, Awards, OA, Scouting

Brotherhood Rituals Change

In 1956, the National OA Committee, after consultation with medical advisors, determined that it was no longer safe to draw and exchange blood between two people in the “Blood-rite” of the Brotherhood Ceremony.

The ceremony was changed to only “symbolically” draw blood. Many lodges were very slow in changing this practice of actually pricking the thumb or finger (or in some cases the palm with a knife) and mixing blood between two Arrowmen. There are accounts well into the 1960s of the practice continuing.

Today all lodges understand that it is a significant health hazard to comingle blood between two people and it is not tolerated at any ritual. The August 1956 Brotherhood Ceremony pamphlet officially incorporated the change from drawing blood to symbolically drawing blood.

This change and one other minor edit were made as follows (script difference in the 1956 ceremony):

“…cheerfully suffer…” becomes “…suffer cheerfully…”

“…draw drops of blood… “ Was changed to read “…symbolically draw ‘blood’ so that you may mingle your ‘blood’ …”

3, Ceremonies, OA, Scouting

1957 National Jamboree

The 1957 National Scout Jamboree was held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from July 12 to 18 with the theme “Onward For God and My Country”. 52,580 Scouts and Explorers paid $50 to participate in the Jamboree not including the cost to get there. For the opening show, Scouts were greeted by Vice President Richard Nixon and during the Jamboree were entertained by Jimmy Dean and the “Harmonica Rascals”.

One OA service troop was provided as at the two previous Jamborees. A meeting of all Arrowmen attending also occurred. The service troop once again provided service as needed to assist in the operation and logistics of the Jamboree. Typical duties were traffic support, aids to staff and special visitors, ushering at arena shows and a host of other projects wherever they were needed.

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1957 National Planning Meeting

The Area Chiefs and National OA Committee met at Kansas University in Lawrence, the scheduled site for the 1958 NOAC for the 1957 National Planning Meeting. James W. Kolka from Otyokwa Lodge, Eau Claire, Wisconsin was elected National Conference Chief. Elected Deputy Conference Chiefs were Fred Gehl, Charles Martin, Paul Kelly, Dick Honsinger, John Lehman and Frank Naylor.

3, Elections, OA, Scouting

1953 National Planning Meeting

Because the scheduled site for the 1954 NOAC was the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, the National Planning Meeting was held centrally in St. Louis, Missouri. The Area Conference Chiefs elected Jim Feil of Tamegonit Lodge, Kansas City, Kansas National Conference Chief. Jim Feil’s father, George Feil later served as National Committee Chairman. Two Deputy National Conference Chiefs were elected, Jack Frost and Otto Ludecke. Together the new National Conference Chiefs, Area Chiefs and the National OA Committee planned the 1954 NOAC.

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1954 DSA Recipients

The following were presented the Order of the Arrow's Distinguished Service Award (DSA) at the 1954 National Order of the Arrow Conference in Wyoming to - M. G. Boswell, Dr. Joe C. Carrington Jr., H. Edward Dike, Frank W. Hall Jr., Henry J. Henning, J. Powell Hunter, Phillip W. Robins and Scotty Williamson.

3, Awards, OA, Scouting

H. Lloyd Nelson Passes

On December 27, 1955, National OA Committee Chairman H. Lloyd Nelson passed away unexpectedly at the age of 52.

Nelson was living in Birmingham, Alabama when he suffered a fatal heart failure. All of the Order mourned.

Nelson joined Goodman’s Troop 1, Philadelphia in 1915. He was inducted into the OA in the teens and was at the very first Grand Lodge Meeting in 1921. Nelson had served as Chief of Unami Lodge in 1925. He later served as National Chief during the war years. Nelson served on the National OA Committee and its predecessor National Executive Committee since they were first created in 1933. As the first volunteer to serve as an officer of the Grand Lodge, Nelson was the transformational influence that guided the Order from an autonomous organization run by Scout professionals to an Official BSA organization run primarily by Scouters.

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Third National OA Committee Chair

With the sudden passing of H. Lloyd Nelson the OA was without a National OA Committee Chairman. James “Judge” P. Hunter was selected by John M. Schiff, past President of the BSA at the March 1956 BSA Executive Board Meeting to be the Order’s third Chairman. Hunter was already serving on the National OA Committee. He was from Atlanta, Georgia, Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge.

3, OA, Scouting

Sashes Change From Felt to Twill

From the late teens until 1948, Grand Lodge / National Lodge issued sashes or bands were made of wool felt with wool felt arrows sewn onto the sash. Over the years because of a variety of manufacturers, the width of the sash and length of the sash varied. The same happened with the shape of the arrows sewn onto the sashes. The snaps also varied.

In 1948, the sashes underwent a change and there was more uniformity in the sashes, arrows, and snaps. The sash material remained the wool-felt composition, but the arrows were silk-screened flocked onto the sash. The flocking of crushed felt used in the silk-screen process left a fuzzy textured arrow.

In 1955, the National OA Committee changed from the wool felt sash and the silk-screened arrow to a twill material sash with the arrow embroidered onto the twill material. The sash had two plies of material. The top ply had the arrow embroidered onto it and the bottom ply was a backing. The two plies were sewn together with a double tracking of thread that resembled a train track.

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