THE ROCKETS WHICH PROPEL THIS STORY

 There are at least FOUR "ROCKETS” which on this story rides.

The first ”ROCKET’ in this story is “The Texas Rocket” diesel/electric train which the Boy Scout Troop rode between Denver and Chicago.

The second “ROCKET” is the rebellious TEENAGE PERSONALITY ROCKET of the narrator whose father hopes that Boy Scouting "keeps him on the rails."

The third “ROCKET” is the BOY SCOUT LEADERSHIP of the 60s; WWII vets, men of pride and duty, “Mad Men” who stoked their in-built Patriotism for pre-Vietnam militarism.

The fourth “ROCKET” is the BOY SCOUT CONFEDERACY and SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS themselves which rode AMERICA’S CULTURAL RAILS after the Jamboree in 1964.

"These Boy Scouts are like 'teenage nitroglycerine' in green shorts!" - SHORTY from "Shorty's 'Nickle-A-Rack'"

 

    THE AUTHOR                                                                                         1964 JAMBOREE

                "RIDE THE ROCKET”

BY JEAN W. YEAGER

EAGLE SCOUT, GOD AND COUNTRY AWARD RECIPIENT AND AWARD-WINNING ESSAYIST

            This is a story of America of the 1960s told through the lens of the Boy Scouts. Part of the tale is memoir about a 14-year-old Life Scout, who traveled by train with a troop from Denver to the National Jamboree in Valley Forge, on to New York City, the 1964 World’s Fair and back.

We traveled through the polluted America of the ‘60s as Silent Spring had only been published in 1962. We departed with the “Brown Cloud” of air pollution in Denver, were attacked by Earwigs in Valley Forge despite massive use of DDT, we circled New York City on a “Hudson River (sewer) Tour” and came home across the Cuyahoga River at night which made it easier to see that it was, in fact, so polluted it was on fire.

This story also tells of segregated Boy Scouting and the synchronous history of the Jamboree and the Harlem Race Riots which both started the same day. It also tells of how our Troop was protected by a Distinguished Eagle Scout, Percy Sutton, New York Representative from Harlem, who arranged chaperones for us from Malcolm X’s mosque while we were at the Hotel New Yorker.

The Jamboree was led by WWII veterans who were anxious to impart their view of American Patriotism to 50,000 young men and guests. The Jamboree was only a few months pre-Vietnam and Military/Scout leaders were already worried that cultural change was afoot which is one reason they picked symbol-laden Valley Forge for the Jamboree, and Lyndon Johnson spoke to we Scouts about un-named sacrifices to come. We Colorado Scouts headed home knowing we lived next door to N.O.R.A.D. so the Cold War was very real to us.

 The lens also spotlights a secret side of Scouting about which little is written or published. The Order Of The Arrow Lodge conducted its first national Pow-Wow during the Jamboree with some 15,000 members in attendance. It is said that the O.A. and Scouting are like two brothers – one public, one spiritual. Such Brotherhoods are not uncommon in American life and are a part of the story.

This tale would not be complete without the goofy teenage boy antics like shooting pool in Chicago at “Shorty’s Nickle-A-Rack”, “Bowling For Rats” at the Hotel New Yorker and, sitting down in the front row to ogle the high kicking Rockettes.

I have striven for this lens to swing between the pre-1960s consciousness of Kerouac’s “On The Road” and the post-Vietnam irreverence of Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.” This tale is told in the Mark Twain style of “Rabbit Sausage” Creative Nonfiction.*[1]

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[1] MARK TWAIN was once asked if his “non-fiction” work was “True”. Twain replied that he had once asked a German Sausage Maker if his Rabbit Sausage was 100% Rabbit? The Sausage Maker replied, “Vell I do cut it mit yust a bit of horsemeat!” “How much horsemeat?” Twain asked. “Yust von to von  - von rabbit to von horse!” The same can be said of this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PROLOGUE                                                   5,650 wds                    26 pgs.

           Inciting Incidents are Presented

CHAPTER 1                                                   698 wds.                      4 pgs.

            Pre-Jamboree Meeting

CHAPTER 2                                                   1,505 wds                    6 pgs.

            Spotlight On The FUMES

CHAPTER 3 – PART 1                                  5,583 wds.                   23 pgs.

            Training At The Denver Armory. Set up camp. Meet Commissary soldier.

CHAPTER 3 – PART 2                                  4,096 wds.                   15 pgs.

            Itinerary. Carl and I play “Chicken”. Second evening bonfire on “Order of the Arrow.

CHAPTER 3 – PART 3                                  2,467 wds.                   10 pgs.

            Breaking camp. My father gives me a camera. I catch a Scorpion, my “Totem Animal.”

CHAPTER 4                                                   715 wds.                      3pgs.

            SPOTLIGHT on JAMBOREES.

CHAPTER 5                                                   6,904 wds                    28 pgs.

            RIDE THE ROCKET TO CHICAGO

CHAPTER 6                                                   1,143 wds                    4 pgs.

We sleep on the train and my thinking about photos prompts a PHOTO-LIKE DREAM MEMORY of when I was 11 and went to Europe with my family.

CHAPTER 7                                                   4,692 wds                    20 pgs

            CHICAGO. We discover “Pizza” and shoot pool at “Shorty’s Nickle A Rack.”

CHAPTER 8                                                   1,882 wds                    10 pgs

            THE CAPITOL LTD, TO D.C. AND PHILLY - Sightseeing in D.C.

CHAPTER 9   TO THE JAMBOREE

THURS., July 16                                            4,580 wds                    22 pgs.

PHILADELPHIA TO VALLEY FORGE New York Times editions report 250,000 tourists.

FRI., July 17                                                   2,785 wds                    16 pgs.

            WELCOME TO VALLEY FORGE! Opening presentation of felt bombast.

SAT., July 18                                                  3,251 wds                    17 pgs.

            HERITAGE CAMPFIRE DAY – 3,000 campfires and A.M. radio link coast-to-coast.

SUN, July 19                                                  3,070 wds                    15 pgs.

            RELIGIOUS HERITAGE DAY

MON, July 20                                                 3,844 wds                    18 pgs.

            NEW JERSEY’S 300^TH ANNIVERSARY – a big day in the story.

TUES., July 21                                               2,824 wds                    12 pgs.

            ORDER OF THE ARROW EXCLUSIVE POW-WOW – 15,000 Arrow Men plus guests.

WED., July 22                                                4,072 wds                    15 pgs.

            BREAKFAST SNAFU. PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON speaks.

THURS., July 23                                            3,667 wds                    15 pgs.

            FREE DAY – MERIT BADGE ACTION. The Bear Patrol climbs the Triumphal Arch.

FRI., July 24                                                   717 wds                       4 pgs.

            JAMBOREE RADIO reports our FINAL DAY! CLOSING PERFORMANCE.

SAT., July 25                                                  703 wds                       4 pgs.

            BREAKING CAMP. SUDDENLY! THE ROCKETTES!

                                    CHAPTER 9 TOTAL

 

CHAPTER 10                                                 11,076 wds                  37 pgs.

            TO NEW YORK CITY

CHAPTER 11                                                 1,379 wds                    18 pgs.

            TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

CHAPTER 12                                                 5,145 wds                    14 pgs.

            RIDE THE ROCKET WEST TOWARD N.O.R.A.D.

CHAPTER 13                                                 1,342 wds                    6 pgs.

            INSTANT CHICAGO

 

84,347 WORDS

362 PAGES