Title: INTERNET SCOUTING
Author: Michael F. Bowman
Company: Attorney at Law

SCOUTS-L
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SCOUTING HISTORY: WORLD WAR II

Date:         Mon, 24 Feb 1997 22:17:54 +0800
Reply-To: "Grant O'Neil" <poneilgdo@ALPHA2.CURTIN.EDU.AU>
Sender: Scouts-L Youth Group List <Scouts-L@tcu.edu>
From: "Grant O'Neil" <poneilgdo@ALPHA2.CURTIN.EDU.AU>
Subject:      Re: Scouting trivia
X-To:         SCOUTS-L - Youth Groups Discussion List <SCOUTS-L@TCU.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list SCOUTS-L <SCOUTS-L@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU>
Status: RO
X-Status: 

>I also recall a story in UK Scouting Magazine some years ago about a group
>of Scouts in a Concentration Camp.  Apparently they met secretly, as one
>would, after work details.  The exact details of the story are lost to me.
>however it is clear that they suffered.

I don't know about German concentration camps, but I do know that scouters
in Changi (on the infamous Burma Railway; for those not familiar with that
unfortunate piece of British Commonwealth military history, you will
probably recall the movie Bridge on the River Kwai. That was about the Burma
Railway, but does not come close to showing the appalling conditions in
which men worked, lived and died there...) met as members of 1st Gilwell
Park Scout Group and I have even seen a handmade Gilwell scarf with painted
MacLaren tartan that was improvised there. Most of them were British
Commonwealth Troops captured by the Japanese at the surrender of Singapore
in 1942, and very large numbers died through malnutrition, overwork and
disease. Yet in spite of all this they kept their spirits up by organising
concert parties, craft activities and scouting and other things to preserve
a semblance of "normality" in a life that otherwise would have been
unbearably lacking in hopes for the future. A story close to my heart; my
father's uncle died there...

YiS
                                         _ .
Grant O'Neil                          _r| Ll\
Assistant Venturer Leader            |  |_|__\
2nd Ballajura Venturer Unit      =>  \  |_|_ /
Swan Valley District                  ~~  `_'
Western Australia                          v

poneilgdo@alpha2.curtin.edu.au
http://student.curtin.edu.au/~poneilgdo/

Date:         Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:15:55 +0800
Reply-To: "Grant O'Neil" <poneilgdo@ALPHA2.CURTIN.EDU.AU>
Sender: Scouts-L Youth Group List <Scouts-L@tcu.edu>
From: "Grant O'Neil" <poneilgdo@ALPHA2.CURTIN.EDU.AU>
Subject:      Scouting in Changi
X-To:         SCOUTS-L - Youth Groups Discussion List <SCOUTS-L@TCU.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list SCOUTS-L <SCOUTS-L@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU>
Status: RO
X-Status: 

During some recent discussion on the list about scouts in concentration
camps etc. I commented that I had heard of scouts in Changi (the notorious
Japanese POW camp on the Burma Railway). A number of people wrote me
commenting they would like to find out more about this. Yesterday I visited
our local scout museum and spoke to the BP Guild member who was there; this
is what I found out so far:

I saw a Gilwell scarf in the museum with painted tartan. I previously
commented on having seen this and thought it had some connection with the
Changi scouts. Actually, the only connection is that it dates from the WW2
period. Due to rationing it was not easy to get badges etc for scouting
(most people only think of rationing in terms of food, but there were also
clothing rations) so many badges during the war were a painted version of
the embroidered peacetime badge. I have also seen a painted King's Scout
badge from the same period. BTW, there is also a display in the museum of
badges earned by a scout in Engalnd during the pre-WW1 period; I think the
dates were 1911 to 1915, plus a wartime badge for coastwatching duties. One
of these badges was a King's Scout badge; I was interested to see that apart
from the obvious age the basic design was virtually unchanged from our
current Queen's Scout badge (for a picture of this badge see my Venturer
page at http://student.curtin.edu.au/~poneilgdo/venturer.html )

As far as the scouts in Changi, apparently there was an article about this
in the Australian Scout magazine about two years ago (I am guessing it would
have been in connection with the "Australia Remembers" commemorations of the
end of WW2) which I will try to track down and summarise for the list, but
the basic story is that scout inmates of Changi organised themselves into a
Rover Crew, having to meet secretly as the Japanese guards would have
executed them had they been caught.

Hopefully I will soon be able to track more details and share them with the
list.
YiS
                                         _ .
Grant O'Neil                          _r| Ll\
Assistant Venturer Leader            |  |_|__\
2nd Ballajura Venturer Unit      =>  \  |_|_ /
Swan Valley District                  ~~  `_'
Western Australia                          v

poneilgdo@alpha2.curtin.edu.au
http://student.curtin.edu.au/~poneilgdo/