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Insignia & Ranks
What are the derivations of our badges?  Where did they come from and how have they changed over the years?

Bobcat

The Bobcat is the Americanized version of the Panther, Bagheera, found in Kipling's Jungle Book.  He is the mighty hunter that teaches the cubs the skills of the jungle.  A boy had to pass the Bobcat entrance exam in order to become a Cub and be eligible to wear the uniform..  The Bobcat pin for civilian wear was introduced in 1938.  A uniform version was not made available because it was believed to be a better strategy to offer the first badge at the completion of  the first advancement rank, thus using the boy's desire for a badge as an incentive.  In 1959 the Bobcat pin was allowed to be worn on the uniform.  It was a metal badge with the Bobcat head on it.  On the uniform the Bobcat was worn centered on the left shirt pocket until the Wolf badge was earned.  The Cub was still allowed to wear the pin on his civilian clothes.  Tradition was that it was worn upside down until the Cub did a good turn; afterwhich it could be "turned" rightside up.  A new embroidered badge was introduced in 1972.

Where Did The Lion Go?

The first Director of Cub Scouting was a Dr. WIlliam Hurt. In developing the younger boy program for the Boy Scouts he wanted it to be distinctly American. However according to Dr. Hurt, "I deliberately added some things to tie in with the British. Wolf, Bear, Lion seemed a natural sequence. The lion was a courtesy to the British Lion".

A two year study in the early fifties recommended some changes to the program. This included the Webelos den for 10 1/2 year olds that earned the Lion rank. It was implemented in the spring of 1954 in order to keep the interest of the 10 year olds. The Lion-Webelos handbook was published that year for the first time.

In 1960, Cub Scouting lost 30 percent of the registered boys during the year. A survey was conducted through the University of Michigan (I wonder if it is in the school's archives?) to find out why. The report was presented in 1964. The result was a number of changes in 1967 including the creation of the Webelos rank which gave the older boys a unique set of achievements and experiences to better prepare them for Boy Scouting. It was also designed to help retain interest as they moved from Cub Scouting into Boy Scouting. Unfortunately, this is the time when Scouting loses many of the boys.  Naturally, there was not room for the Lion rank anymore and it was eliminated.

Webelos

According to the "History of Cub Scouting", the original Cubbing (as it was known before 1945) handbooks listed Akela as an Indian boy, son of the Chief of the Webelos Tribe. The chief of the tribe was know as Arrow of Light; a name adapted from the Arrow Park World jamboree in London in 1929. The term Akela was taken from teh leader of the wolf pack in The Jungle Book.

Webelos at this time was explained as " a word of inner meaning, signifying progress from Wolf through Bear and Lion ranks: W_B_L_S....We'll be loyal Scouts."  Also, the first letters of Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout.  The latter definition was dropped when the Lion badege was eliminated.

Later, Akela became the chief of the Webelos Tribe.

The Webelos rank was created in 1941. The Webelos badge at this time was the familiar Arrow of Light Badge. The Webelos den idea encouraging the transition into Boy Scouts was put into effect in the spring of 1954. A Webelos den badge of a blue W in a gold diamond was introduced. They were still called Cub Scouts until the term Webelos Scout was introduced in 1967 when 15 activity badges were introduced and the Lion badge was dropped.  The Arrow of Light then became Cub Scoutings highest honor seperate from the Webelos rank.

Webelos Colors

The Webelos colors were introduced with the "new" Webelos program in 1967. This program offered metal pins referred to as Activity Badges for meeting requirements. But whre to put the badges on the uniform that would not detract from other awards and clutter the uniform?

The answer came from Baden-Powell's very first Scout campout at Brownsea Island in England. On August 1, 1907, each boy was provided with a shoulder knot, a long streamer of colored tape. The color of the tape designated the patrol that the boy belonged to.

It is comprised of woven red, gold and a green streamer on a metal bar.  The metal bar has a blue backing wiht gold border and letering spelling out Webelos. It is thought that the colors represented the various levels of Scouting; gold for Cub Scouts, green for Boy Scouts, and Red for Explorers. The "assigned" colors changed in 1980 with the Boy Scouts and Explorer colors reversing as new unifroms were introduced.

Originally, there were only 15 activity pins and no more than five pins were to placed on each streamer. The cloth den numeral was removed and a metal numeral  with a rounded top was centered on the yellow (gold) streamer. The numerals were not to be used until the Pack had more than one Webelos den.

It is now an optional uniform item. It probably lost popularity due to it being in a place where it could easily be knocked off the unifrom during horseplay.  The colors became known as having "weak" attaching pins.  If the colors and badges were lost, the cost of replacement was very expensive.  Also, the wearing of pins on cowboy hats and ball caps has become popular.  The placement of pins on the Webelos cap reflects this trend.

It is worn on the right sleeve and in 1967 was placed below the shoulder seam. As the flag was added to the uniform ,it was worn immediately below and touching the U.S. Flag.   The top was squared off to fit better under the flag.  Today, if a den number is worn, it is placed under and touching the den number.

The national office was going to eliminate the Webelos Colors in the late 80's, however, an outcry from the field brought them back.  Although, in today's Webelos books it is difficult to find pictures or references to the colors.

Wood Badge Beads

The Story of Dinizulu's Necklace

Author unknown, possibly appeared in The Canadian Leader magazine

In 1888, when a British expedition was sent to Zululand, South Africa, it had to contend with Dinizulu, King of the Zulus - a clever, heavily built man, 6 ft., 7 ins. in height. On state occasions, Dinizulu wore a necklace about 12 feet in length. It consisted of 1,000 or more wood beads, made from a South African yellow wood and strung on a rawhide lace.

The necklace was a distinction conferred on royalty and outstanding warriors. During the hostilities that swept Natal and Zululand in those faraway days, the man who was to become the Founder of the Scout Movement - then Captain Robert Baden-Powell - gained possession of Dinizulu's Necklace.

Many years later, in 1919, when Baden-Powell instituted Wood Badge training for Scoutmasters he remembered Dinizulu's Necklace and taking two of the wooden beads and knotting them on a leather thong, he created the Wood Badge - to be worn around the neck and to be the only proficiency badge worn by Scoutmasters. The Wood Badge, with its replicas of the original Dinizulu beads, is now worn by thousands of men and women around the world.

There are a number of sequels to the story of Dinizulu's Necklace.  In 1963 a grandson of Dinizulu, Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, visited Canada to attend the Anglican World Congress in Toronto and on a side trip to Ottawa was hosted by a member of the Ottawa District staff, DSM. Oliver Belsey.  The following Christmas he sent Mr. Belsey a Christmas card depicting his late father doing a Zulu dance, a picture of himself in the full regalia of a Zulu Chieftain and two wooden beads (Wood Badge) taken from the military award of one of Dinizulu's warriors who passed away in 1962.

In 1965 at Kwakhethomthandayo, the Royal Kraal, near Nongoma in Zululand, Scouting history was made with the Investiture of Paramount Chief, Bhekuzulu Nyangayizwe, before 5,000 of his people. The Paramount Chief was invested as a Scout by a South African Headquarter's field commissioner.

To mark the 12th World Jamboree and the 60th Anniversary of Scouting, the Boy Scouts of South Africa decided to make four authentic replicas of Dinizulu's Necklace. After much research and months of hard work by European Rover Scouts in Natal, and Zulu Scouts from Natal troops, the four reproductions of the original were completed.

Three of them were taken to the 12th World Jamboree in Idaho, U.S.A., in August, 1967.  For museum purposes, one necklace was presented to the Chief Scout Executive of the host country, Boy Scouts of America; one to the Acting Director of the Boy Scouts World Bureau and one to the Camp Chief, International Training Centre, Gilwell Park, London.  The fourth necklace remains in South Africa as an historic memento of the land of the origin of the Wood Badge.

World Crest

The World Crest is ia a smaller symbol associated with the World Scout Flag which flies at the World Organization of Scouting Movements (WOSM) in Switzerland.  It is the sole insignia common to ALL member nations of the WOSM, and in most if not all nations, where they base "their" national symbol of Scouting from.  Only recently, has the Boy Scouts of America decided that all of its members will wear the World Crest as a symbol of unity and world brotherhood.

The World Organization decided after the second World War that all member nations would issue and wear a patch with the World Crest on it as a sign of world brotherhood and unity among all Scouting organizations in teh then "free world".  The BSA along with a small group of other countries agreed but declined to carry out the madate, stating that their program "will do so when the time is right for it to happen", stated the Chief Scout Arthur Schuck.

The first uses of the World Crest was during the World Jamboree in 1955, although the badge was available to Scouts and Scouters several years before.  In 1956, however, the BSA decided that Scouts and Scouters that participate in an approved "international activity or event" would wear the Crest to and from that event as members of other nations would be doing.  The following year, 1957, the BSA made the World Crest available to local Councils (it was previously only avaialbe from the BSA's International Service), and established the requirements which lasted until 1992: "take part in an organized internaitonal activity or event with Scouts from antoher member nation of the World Association".  It also established the World Crest as one of the few PERMANENT patches or insignia on the Boy Scout or Scouter's uniform.

No matter how many "international activities" you took part in, you could only wear ONE per life of the Scout.  Nor could you purchase a World Crest without a card (similar to the Eagle Scout card) which states that you are indeed the holder of the World Crest.

The crest became known as the "Overseas" patch of Scouting informally by Scouts and Scouters, because while a few were earned by Scouts and Scouters taking part in events in Canada or Mexico, many more...the majority...were earned by Scouts and Scouters serving as members of the Transatlantic (Europe, Near East, and North Africa), Far East (Far East, Japan, and the Phillipines), Canal Zone (Panama) and Direct Service (all other areas around the world) Councils.  Scouts and Scouters in those Councils routinely had interactions with host-nation Scouting groups and many of those Scouts and Scouters developed lifelong associations with individuals and groups over the years, camping and doing social events with them and their members. As those folks came back to the States, proudly displaying their World Crest, they were singled out for many special tasks and events in their Councils because "they have done something with foriegn Scouts".

My best guess is that there were many jealous Scouts and Scouters that could not go overseas, could not atttend a Jamboree or some other event, and could not, therefore, earn the World Crest.  The BSA did something about this, in 1990, and changed the rules allowing for Scouts and Scouters in the USA to earn a World Crest by simply "taking part in an international exhibit or display or an international event.", whether or not Scouts from another country were present or not.  Robert Zadima, the Council Executive of the Transatlantic Council and his Far East counterpart, along with some members of other US local councils, strongly made their objections known to the BSA's National Director of Operations and to the International Division, but those appeals fell on deaf ears, and the policy was changed.

Two and a half years ago (1991) , the BSA once again changed the policy over the objections of many local councils, whose volunteers and professionals had grown to repect the World Crest and what it stood for.  The present policy is that the patch WILL BE WORN BY ALL YOUTH MEMBERS AND BY ALL ADULTS, VOLUNTEER OR PROFESSIONAL, AS A SIGN OF WORLD BROTHERHOOD AND UNITY WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SCOUTING COMMUNITY.

The patch has always had the same design.  The patch is one-inch in diameter, in the same two colors.  The design is the international fleur-de-lis (flower of the lily), with two stars symbolizing "truth" and "knowledge" and alluding to the outdoor nature of Scouting, surrounded by a rope symbolic of unity and one-ness ties at the bottom by a square knot, a symbol of service.  Those white items are on a deep purple (not maroon, but royal purple) background.

Those Scouts and Scouters that do participate in an international activity today get to wear a three-inch TEMPORARY patch on the right pocket.

Fromm a posting by (MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle) mwalton@alpha.comsource.net

The 1995 Insignia Guide states that the World Crest should be centered horizontally over the left shoulder and vertically between the left shoulder seam and the top of the pocket.