Taos Ski Trip

Cannot say exactly what year it was, 75 or 76 maybe.

December History Roundtable

We had a nice gathering at Robert's on December 28th and were able to cover a fair amount of ground. Dink brought a box full of interesting historic materials and we made plans to organize the gathering and compilation of content for the website. Robert also provided a whopping 24 GB of photos, courtesy of Allen Schup. The first batch of photos (a set of 149 Worth Ranch photos taken by Jack way back in the days of Captain Kidd) is up on the Worth Ranch historic photos gallery. We could use some help identifying people in the photos.

We could also use some team leaders (very, very part time) to poke the hoarders of historic materials into coughing up their Nishkin and Post treasures so that we could go through them and write some articles.

Mission Statement:

We also decided that it is time to draft a mission statement to guide us in the development of the site.

We could use some suggestions for the statement. To get the ball rolling, here are some starter ideas (wide open for modification, deletion, etc):

• Preserve the history of the Post and related units
• Preserve the history of Nishkin
• Provide a human story of life in a vibrant, thriving family of Scout units
• Promote the Scouting program via content that is informative, inspiring and fun

There you go. Write something and we can edit it as a group.

The next roundtable is tentatively planned for mid-February. We'll let you know the date when things firm up.

New Additions

— Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed new material.

January 1: Titles added to Jack's WR photos
December 28th: Jack's photos of Worth Ranch from the 1940's — Allen Schup
December 23: Caro's: No Ai Governmento – Chris Callaway
December 23: Tall Tales: The Door to Nowhere – Chris Callaway
December 14: Tall Tales: The Cowpatty Wars

November 29:

Slide Shows

We have added a number of new slide shows and beefed up others, with the content drawn from the 2005 Reunion DVD. These include:

• OA Gallery - a bunch of photos including (naturally) some from the 52nd anniversary of the OA.
• OA Patch Collection - a huge collection of over 200 patches. We need captions for these and we also need to know who the collector was so that we can give credit where credit is due.
• Post 52 Photo Assortment - a collection of various photos, with a few duplications from other slide shows. We need captions for these as well. If any of the photos need to be moved to other galleries, let us know.
• Troop 52 Photos - some of the captions are a bit sketchy. If anyone can provide more details, that would be very helpful. Also, captions such as "JB0037.jpg" don't have a lot of panache, so we could use some help with these.
• Charles L. Sommers - We now have a great start but we could use some more.
• Troop and Post 21 Photos - We'd added more content and expect to have more to add over the next couple of months
• Ski Trips (additional photos) - If anyone can provide names for the captions, we'd appreciate it.
• Moe Dean Gunch - Hanging out with his buddies.

Videos

In addition to the Moe Dean video under the Personalities section of the site, we now have three videos posted in "The Good Stuff" section. They are from volume I of the 2005 Reunion DVD. The videos include:

• The trailer for the 2005 reunion video DVD (a preview of the "volume II" two-disk DVD set). It's a really great video, so if you did not obtain a copy of the volume I DVD you are in for a treat.
• A John Whitten recitation of The Shooting of Dan McGrew from March 1983. (This is classic, grizzled Whitten fare – best viewed when sitting out back wearing a bear skin while picking your teeth with a crusty old bowie knife).
• The opening clip from the DVD – A send-up of the rose petal scene from American Beauty, with Moe Dean in the Kevin Spacey role.

Captions from Chris

Here are some photo captions from Chris Callaway. I don't have time to put them properly into the galleries at the moment, so I'll post them here for now:


Troop 21_1959_June
They grayhound bus is post 1963, it looks like they are loading out for Arkansas.  TCU has taken over the gold course and the new BDS is operating.

T22221_OldCol_     This is early 1960s on a day hike followed by a cow patty war.  this could be 1963

Troop52
1963_JulyT52_03 jpg  This is the colorado trip in '63 the last time we camped outside the Sand Isabell Nat'l Forrest  I can id a few of the people.  TRavis Hazelwood broke his back falling off one of the fins (volcanic dikes)

Colorado Trip '64 in Andrix COlorado  the photo is detailed elsewhere.  THis is the first time I can remember that the acting SPL had no troop 52 experience - that was John thomas

1967 June_o8  Arkansas trip  I htink this is 1968 Mark Smith, Gary Mills, Si Bennett  This was Gary's last trip with the unit.  Mr. Kizer ran the grayhound off the road on the way out of the park on the trip home about an hour later.  We had lots of bus trouble that day.

1968_april T52_17jpg
Loading out to go to colorado, note the lack of poles on hte blue panel truck

1971 T52 Arkansas _09m jpg
Should be 1968 they had just pulled the grayhound back on the road

1971 T52 arkansas _ 06 S/B 1968 The brakes locked up on the Grayhound about 50 west of camp on the way home.   I had to call RObert Vivion to find the bus mechanic in Fort Worth to get the procedure to fix the problem.  It was a huge mess that we have photos of somewhere.

JB_ 001 jpg  this is pre 1961 at UCC

T52-1960s misc02LG  This is 1966 at Trinidad CO on the way home.  It was a rainy year where the bridges washed out between our camp site and Aguilar standing our bus.  We rode to Trinidad in the bed of a coal truck to the train station.  Jack and his nephew George, drove the blue panel truck back to Fort Worth leaving Bill Ellis and I in charge of the kids on the train.   this was one of the last runs of the Burlington "Denver Zephyr" as the post office cancelled the mail contract.  We pretty much had the rain to ourselves.

T52_1969 jpg
This is 1963 trip to Colorado at Amarillo Air Force Base on the way up.

November 30th Roundtable

We have some interesting footage from our recent roundtable on troop and post history. We will be putting together a highlights reel in the near future. The next roundtable is scheduled for December 28th.

Roundtable discussion on troop and post history, November 30th, 2013

(L - R:) Mark McBride, Robert Vivion, Larry Kleinschmit, Dink Starns,

Maurice Lambert, Steve Cocanower, (not shown:Trey Yancy).

Thought you might like to see this video I shot in November 2011 at Worth Ranch. It features me, Ron Scott and Bob Coalson, Ken Routh, George Barlow and Price Hulsey. Former scouts from Troop 21/52 in Fort Worth gather at Worth Ranch for a volunteer work day and a bit of reminiscing.

Jack Boyd

Several weeks ago Chris Callaway posted an excerpt from his and Heard's fascinating book, Camping with Jack. The content has been moved to the Jack Boyd page.

New Forum Member

Welcome to our newest forum member, Mark Ellis.

Mark was a member of Post 52 in the late 80’s and was on WR Camp Staff in 87 and 88. We look forward to some great contributions regarding that era in post history and perhaps some interesting content about WR staff experience from those days.

Captain Kidd Content

If you would like to see a demonstration of how to take something from someone else's site, plaster it with links back to the site and add a copyright attribution in the hope of avoiding the wrath of the powers that be, check out the Worth Ranch page. By the way, if someone could give some background on the Captain Kidd patches and program, this would be appreciated.

Jack's house was at 3550 Winston Road SW/4 of Biddison and Winston.  He used to park a troop bus in the front yard when his other vehicles were operable.  This greatly annoyed the neighbors. 

Chris Callaway

Jack's House

A streetview image of Jack's house, located two and a half blocks from Trinity Episcopal and a half block east of Boyd Avenue. We never used the front door, so here's the view that counts.

I remember that he lived with his mother back then. I also remember his "day sleeper" sign on the kitchen door. Years later, at the WR 75th, Bill Gabriel and I dropped by the cemetery in Mineral Wells and it pleased me to see that sign hanging on the stone.

Not that it has any relevance to anything, but the last time I saw Jack was sometime in my college days when I visited my old stomping grounds at Southwest High and discovered that he was teaching science there. He was wearing a tan suit and a navy tie that day. I guess for some reason I must have been thinking he wore his Scout uniform 24/7.

Worth Ranch Song

I remember this song we used to sing at Worth Ranch:

If you've had the smell of cedar in your nose,
If you've hiked the trail with very little clothes,
If youve baked in wind and sun
   till you're very nearly done
And you've grinned and come back for more.

If you've ever felt that feeling wild and strange,
That called you to that old Kyle Mountian Range.
If you've ever felt the grip
of that Worth Ranch fellowship,
You will wear the Worth Ranch brand forevermore.

Where is Joe Burrow

Hi, I am Sherwin Rubin from Troop 21 in Fort Worth, Texas.  I was a member in the late 1940's and Trey has posted a couple pictures of mine in this blog.  One of the pictures was four scouts walking together.  (David Rubin, Dick Tooley, myself, and Joe Burrow.)  I think it was taken about 1945.  I have Dick Tooley's e-mail and postal address, but I have lost contact with Joe.  David passed away in 1997.

If anyone knows how to contact Joe Burrow, I would appreciate the information.

What Has Ten Legs, Four Heads and Comes in Green?

(...and goes on long hikes in front of a forest backdrop?)

Back in the time when boys were boys and men were men (say, around 1945), Sherwin Ruben, his brother David Rubin, and friends Dick Tooley and Joe Burrow were members of the venerable Troop 21. And in case anyone doubts this, we have a photo to prove it.

(If anyone is taking bets on who is the wild man of the group, our money's on Joe.)

Here's another one from Sherwin of him and his brother David.

Easter Eggs

Just for the heck of it we've placed a couple of hidden references on the home page:

If you have ever wondered if Moe Dean Gunch might be of such mythical stature as to rank with the likes of Odin, there may be some truth to this (you have, of course heard of Loki Pierre). Also, while the many and various adventures of Moe Dean may have been somewhat spectacular on occasion, they are not above a wisecrack every now and then (drag the corner of the browser window towards the top for this one).

By the way - have you ever been lost in the woods? Go to the home page and type a couple of random characters after the URL and you can relive the experience. Better yet click here.

The Cult of Moe, 2013

I've been in contact with Brendan Smith, Post advisor. He will be getting in touch with the current Post president about the suggestion for setting up a current front-end website for the Post at the same domain name and with the history site being connected to it by a menu link. No change in hosting, just a different home page with the recently developed pages and content remaining as they are.

New Member

John Fortier has just signed up. For those who haven't met John, he was a member from 1982 to 1987. During his time with the Post he was the Nishkin ceremonies chairman in 1984, vigil secretary in 1985, served on the WR Camp Staff from 1983 through 1985, made the Post 52 Philmont trek in 1984 and numerous ski trips in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Welcome aboard, John!

Photo from Dink

Bill Wilson (Nishkin Vice Chief and second Chief) and Dink Starnes (first Nishkin Chief)

Dink's note:


"You have a good pic of the vice chief of the Nishkins.  See the chief belt on me.  See the vice chief belt on Bill Wilson soon (in about an hour and a half to get the big, heavy burden (and blue) tradition.  My idea of how to get rid of it.

"Photo taken by the Star-Telegram out side the Chrystal Ballroom, top floor of the Texas Hotel. Second banquet for O A.

"Maurice Lambert has my copy of the article.  Maurice and I go back to 14 - 16. He will be a great resource for you.  He is not one of us but he has a vast collection of BSA and has done a number books onW R, etc.

"Also, does the museum at W R.  Also, check out Deran Wright (web site).  I am trying to send to you a photo of the same period, but it is not working for me. So, it may come from him or Maurice.

"I had a long talk with Robert Vivion late today.  He is ready to talk (his place) this Thanks week.  Bring your gear.  You get maybe 3 early Chiefs in place."

Break Down near Muddy Gap, Wyoming

I got the only phone call I ever got from Jack was in August of 1975.  He was headed back from Oregon to Fort Worth with about 16 kids when the water pump on his second hand school bus gave out.  Jack called from about 30 miles north of Muddy Gap, Wyoming.  Muddy Gap is where the highway splits going to either Laramie or Rawlins.  It's in the middle of no where along the Sweetwater River.  

This was a Saturday afternoon.  He knew that the bus was a GMC and that it had a big engine.  I found no less than five water pumps that might fit his bus.   We lived in Riverton about two hours away from where he said the bus was on the side of the road.  Kathy had bought a bunch of food while I got the parts.  We got there about dark, just in time to be attacked by bands of roving mosquitos.

The kids had pitched tents along the fence line.  They were glad to see the food that Kathy had brought along.   Jack was holding a map like he always did when things cratered.  One kid interrupted Jack's navigational exercise by asking him why his mosquito repellant was not working.  Jack examined the bottle and informed the kid that his mosquito repellant was only effective on Texas species of  mosquitos. 

Mean while two of the older kids got a lesson in bus repairs by helping me change out the water pump.  I was very relieved to find that one of the five water pumps actually fit.  In the middle of all of this another kid comes up and asks if I think we can fix the bus and have it make it back to Fort Worth without another break down.  He tells me they shelled a water pump on the trip up to Oregon.  Then Jack pipes up that the bus was going through them about every six months. 

After about two hours we get the pump installed using flashlights to augment the mechanics version of the Braille System.  The break down was within 100 feet of the Sweetwater River.  The kids used canteens and pop cans to get water to fill up the radiator.  It's about 10:30 PM when I crank up the bus.  Thankfully there were no leaks and the bus idles smoothly. 

Jack now decides that he has time to make it to Laramie before calling it a night.  I told Jack that I would drive the bus as far as Muddy Gap to make sure that the repairs held up.  Kathy follows us in our car.  Jack decides to stand in the step well near the door to see how it goes.  The boys all piled in and  immediately crashed.  Little had changed over the years. 

The bus ran cool all the way to Muddy Gap.  Jack was very quiet until I pulled into the gas station/store/KOA camp ground at Muddy Gap.  The place was about to close down for the night, but was more than glad to sell me gasoline for the bus and the car.  Jack had not realized that the bus was almost out of fuel and was probably running on fumes. 

The kids all got off the bus and went into the store for a much needed pit stop.  Jack gets a Coke.  He says he needs to stay awake to get to Laramie.  I go in to pay for the fuel.  The man that ran the place looked at us and asked; "Rough day?'  I answered with a simple "This is really pretty normal for us.  We're used to it". 
 
I gave him the quick version of what happened while Jack is trying to write a check to Kathy for the water pump.   Kathy had the smarts to tell Jack to mail it to us later.  Mean while the gas man offers to let the Jack and the kids stay at the KOA campground on him, showers and all.  Jack wants to go on, but the kids overrule him as they realize that they can get a hot shower. 

Kathy and I say good bye to the troop and headed back to Riverton.  The conversation turns to why I think this is a normal event.  Many related stories later she begins to understand a very important part of many peoples' lives.  In the months and years that followed I bought a lot of gas and diesel fuel at Muddy Gap.  The last time I went through there in 1981the gas man told me that he was yet to run across anything quite like Jack and the troop. 

I never got another call from Jack.  The water pump lasted a few more years and a lot more miles.  I'm still thankful that we always got home sooner or later, no big deal.   Many years later the camping trips are still very pleasant memories. 

Jack Plaque

I have taken Kent's photo of the Jack Boyd flagpole plaque, cleaned it up, straightened it, and made it more legible. I'll post a small version along with the text on the Jack page of the website.

We are looking for someone to head up the project of collecting Jack Boyd stories and history. As Chris mentioned on the FaceBook alumni group, Camping with Jack is a great place for someone to start. We could use a bunch of anecdotes and stories from everyone who has a classic Jack Boyd experience.

Humongous Pile'O'Photos

We have just received a DVD from Kent Couch with a modest supply of photos (601, to be exact – three quarters of a Gigabyte). Most are from WR, with a number from trips to Austin and DC and a few Leonard Shots, the 2006 Reunion, OA stuff, and whatnot.

It is a ton of stuff and way more than could fit in a normal gallery. If someone would like to go through them and cull them for selected galleries,  this would be very helpful. Let me know and I'll send you a dupe of the DVD.

While we're at it, anyone who is interested is welcome to send me a prepaid DVD mailer and I'll send you a copy, regardless.

Biographies

There are several pages of Jack Boyd's biography in Camping with Jack.  That could be a start for something more extensive.  Heard Floore was friends with Joe Studdard.  Both of them collected folk music.  This was an active competition.  After Joe Studdard died I think Heard would up with a lot of what Joe had found. 

The Post 52 History from several years ago has biographies of sorts for Colonel Slaton, Terry Wilkes and Robert Vivion. 

Chris Callaway

Troop & Post Songbook, 5th Ed. 1975

I'm sure y'all have this already, but on the off chance you don't, I've attached a scanned copy of the 52 song book.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Andrew Bruner

We have processed the file to a more compact format and it is now downloadable. We are in the process of turning it into a digital form with text that can be copied and pasted into other documents. Due to the fuzzy, photocopied nature, nearly every word will need to be checked, so this may take a while. 

We will create a downloads page in the near future. In the meantime, the bitmapped PDF can be downloaded via the following link:

Troop & Post 52 Song Book 5th Edition, Summer 1975

One more thing:

Who can provide the background info on the legendary but mysterious songster, Joe Studdard?

- Editor

Charles L Sommers, 1979

We would like to welcome Stan Bravenek to the blog. He was among the group that laid the brick on the Post Room floor and many of us have have gained a loftier perspective by this accomplishment (at least a good half inch more lofty than before).

Here's his crew photo from the Sommers trek of 1979:

Back Row: Dean Ramsey, Ted Test, Mac McDonald (non-Post member), Rob Moran, Irro (guide)
Front Row: Bill Harmon, Stan Bravenec, Darrell Amsden, Chris (non-Post member).

A Rather Floppy Historical Record

Thanks to Steve Cocanower for submitting his memoirs. They may be on a DSDD floppy disk, but we have the time and (excuse the pun) we also have the drive.
We look forward to adding this content to the site in the near future.

Philmont, Rayado JLT Staff, 1973

Posted on Behalf of Cathy Hochberg

Staff photo from Philmont / Rayado Junior Leader Training Outpost, 1973

Back row:
Byron Lange (IA), Gary Lipscomb (OK), Duffy Boyles (OH), Dave Collison (KS), John Sisson (CO), Allen Croom (LA), Eric Pond (OR), Tim Austin (TX),
Middle row:
Bryan Morgan (TX), Roy Cleland (TX), Steve Lukehart (MO), Randle "Dee" Moore (TX), Ralph Wooden (MD), Charlie Allen (TX), Jim Stratton (OR), Richard Moseley (TX), Shane Doran (OR)
Front row:
Scott Muir (OR), Ron Ray (UT), Mark Nolte (MO), Jim Savard (OR), Heard Floore, Assistant Camp Director (TX), Rich Habel (IA), Harold Judd (IA), John Jensen (?)

Christmas Tree Sales

I remember that we first set up a tree lot at the corner of Berry Street and University Drive.  The bank had bought a set of lots to build a large building and had cleared off the houses in 1968 or 1969.  We rigged up make shift lights and built a tar paper shelter house/flocking station.   The shelter house was a hovel unfit for winos, but it held up for the few weeks we were selling trees. 

Former Troop and Post member Doug Harrell was trying to make a living selling Christmas trees wholesale.  I think we were his first customer.  We had to buy all kinds of one time things like flocking equipment, a tree bagger, etc. to get started.  I think we broke even after all was said and done that year.  We did sell a lot of trees however.  We also learned a lot about keeping records and handling money. 

Terry Wilkes was the advisor at this point in time.  We ran into some issues with the Southside Optimist Club.  the Optimists had run a tree lot in a public park (Kellis Park) at South Drive and Trail Lake  for years.  They were complaining bitterly to the scout office that we were unfairly competing with them and costing them business.  The scout office initially told us to close and that we could not use BSA on our signage.  We converted the signage to "POST 52" and continued on.  Wilkes (a council commissioner at the time) convinced the professionals to leave us alone. 

I don't remember where we went skiing that year.  I don't think it was Taos.  The trip to Taos was very basic and we actually camped out and cooked over a fire.  We used the infamous blue panel truck and Jack's station wagon for transportation. 

In the years that followed the tree lots moved to other places and the trips involved more and more people.  A year or so after the first trip we stayed at Philmont and skied at I think Angel Fire.  We had a lot of vehicle trouble on that trip with a rented van.  This van cratered in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.  I made two trips in my car hauling post members stacked like cord wood through a howling snow storm.  We got it fixed by two shady characters "Cool Hand Luke" and the "Gas Man" who ran a decrepit service station and motel with their girl friend.  I don't remember the name we hung on her. 


That was my last ski trip with the post.  The tree lots were still going strong when I got transferred back to Fort Worth from Colorado in 1981.  Shortly after getting back to Cowtown, Jack asked me to be the committee chairman for both units.  I was stunned to find out how much money the tree lot was handling.  This was after the move to Ryan Olds on Alta Mere.  The ski trips had become very popular and were even more successful.  In a few years artificial trees took their toll and the post gave up on Christmas trees.  I'm not sure when the shrimp trips started but they were successful as well. 

When I joined the post in 1965 I never would have dreamed that we would run a successful business enterprise.  But then again we never knew where the journey would lead us or where it would end.

Regarding the Fred Moyer Incident

I remember when Fred was killed. I wasn't on the trip, but...
The first news reports back in Fort Worth said something like "Texas Scout killed on Minnesota canoe trip." No name. No home town. No unit number. The Scout Office was flooded with calls. Or that's what I remember some 40+ years later.

New Stories

We have two new stories up, making two for Charles L. Sommers and two for SR2. We need tons more! If you'd like to start post(52)ing, click on the sign-up link above.

Anyone up for writing an introduction for any of the adventures pages (WR, Ski Trips, etc.)?

Post 52 Gets Paddled

Post 52's Sommers trek on the cover of Boy's Life Magazine, February 1972

center photo: Tom Carr and Drew Etter

The Post Room

From Mark McB:

Charles L. Sommers, 1971

Philmont 1950 & OA 1957 - Names?

Hi,

We need names for the guys in this photo. (Click on "comment") Following each photo are Mark McB's comments.

Philmont, 1950

"...the first and fourth from the left, top row, are the Atkinson brothers.  I think Olin is older than Lanham.  Richard McCollum (the younger) is the 2nd from left, middle row, and Charlie McCollum (the elder) is next to him, 3rd from left.  If memory serves, another Troop/Post member - Dick Winter - is also in the photo."

Nishkin Executive Council, 1957

"Interesting, to me, that the 7 Post members are all in full uniform and the two non-post members are not."

New Additions

Things are starting to happen with the site.

Mark McBride provided the most recent email list and sent in the story about the 1963 Somers trip (see Adventures > Sommers). Chris Callaway provided a letter that accompanied a history he was working on, along with some valuable comments about Post history.

Thanks to the email list, we were able to send out an eNews blast about the project (in the middle of the night, along with a couple of creative autocorrections). We've already received responses from a number of folks and are receiving more content.

Steve Cocanower sent in three PDFs: "t52 1994 summer camps", "t52 Jack Boyd Cookbook SC 1994" and "t52Getting started packet". He also has some content on floppies that we hope to get ahold of.

John Munson wondered if the menu item about our adventure with Sommers involved a woman named Suzanne (who would float the boat of many grizzled trekkers through the Quetico).

David Lang and Mike Thomas provided updates to their email addresses.

Bill Simon had some good questions about the site:

Why is it called the Post 52 History?  Although very active in Post activities, I had the impression Jack Boyd was more actively involved in Troops 21 and 52. 

– The site is a natural evolution of the Post 52 site and the Post is more or less the touchstone here. All the other content branches from that point, including important folk like Jack, as well as the feeder and sister units, the camps and so on. There is plenty of room under the troop section for as much Troop 52 content as GoDaddy's servers can handle.

What are the names of the individuals in the core group? 


– We've received a lot of input from Mark McBride and Chris Calloway. In addition, cudos to Mark for his generous contributed expense for the post52.org domain name and the site hosting.

Who is the curator / professional copy writer?

– Trey Yancy - creative director and marketing guy.

Feel free to comment below:

Welcome!

An Important Note from the Curator: Carpe Deim

submissions are already coming in - scroll down to view

In the film Dead Poets Society there is a scene in which the teacher takes a group of students to look at a display cabinet of school history – ancient trophies and photos of the young men who won them; young men with the whole wide world laid out before them. We look into the faces, seeing hints of their personalities in their eyes, their posture and expressions. And then we are informed that each and every one of them is now food for daffodils. The teacher has his students lean in and listen as he whispers the message of eternal youth: Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives glorious.

This may seem rather abstract and far removed from our lives, but upon reflection, we realize that  in Post 52 we have shared something truly marvelous and that we are the boys in those photographs. We also realize that of all the valuable things that we may have experienced in our lives, if we do not share them with others, they will one day simply vanish.

We lived through the golden era of the Scouting program – a time when the Scout-O-Rama drew more visitors than any other event in Fort Worth. It was a time when the OA rolls had more than 2,300 members and the Longhorn Council had what must have been 40,000 boys in Scouting. It was absolutely huge and our little corner of it was very, very special.

Those were amazing days and what we experienced through Scouting had a deep, permanent and extraordinarily valuable impact on our lives. This is what we, from the perspective of troop and post 52 and other units with a 52 connection, can share with future generations.

This blog represents a race against time and a race against the distractions of day to day life. We are as impermanent as anyone else and our time is limited. As the decades have passed we have in the process of passing as well: Michael Osbourne, Richard Lewis, Jack, Panda – and, sooner or later, all of us.

Let's make a record of our experience. Let's tell the generations what it was like. Between us, we have the tales of four generations – more than enough to create a truly fascinating, informative, entertaining, and touching narrative of our experiences as part of one of the most profound, yet little understood cultural phenomena in history. If we can generate enough content – if we can set aside the time and make the effort – we can create a really great record of our collective experience. And from this we can create an eBook that can be distributed freely and easily, seeding it in such a way that it will not vanish as everything on the Internet eventually vanishes, along with ourselves.

Are we up for this? Are we prepared to preserve this wonderful thing that we have experienced? I think that we are, so let's start posting – anedcotes, facts, photos and more. Every little thing is important, so let;s make the most of it.

As the teacher said, carpe diem. Let's seize the day, boys. Let's make this archive glorious.

A Great Shot From the Fifties

This was submitted by Mark McBride, who added, "One of my favorites from the 50's."

Another submission from Mark: 

Jack Boyd

Jack Boyd, 52 miles from Post, Texas.

The Post Room

A display of relics in the post room.