Boy Scout Troop 30 celebrates 95 years

CRESTVIEW — Boy Scout Troop 30 celebrated its 95th anniversary over the weekend.

John Mayfield, Crestview resident and assistant scout master, said the troop’s 32 current scouts came together with a handful of the troop’s 3,000 former scouts for the court of honors ceremony, where current scouts also received merits and badges.

“The ceremony is put on by the scouts. They write the program and do all the presentations and everything, and they’re awarded any merit badges or ranks that they have earned since the beginning of the school year,” Mayfield said. “We do these court of honors three times a year.”

This one was different, though, Mayfield said, because it honored traditions and values of the troop that have been consistent since its founding in Crestview in 1922. Mayfield said previous Troop 30 scouts have gone on to become community leaders, politicians and business people who have had large impacts throughout Okaloosa county.

“We had memorabilia from throughout the history of scouting, like pictures or parts of uniforms going all the way back to the 1920s that were on display,” Mayfield said. “We had several past members of the troop attend this event going back into the 1970s.”

One special moment, Mayfield said, was when the scouts were able to present a 1970s Eagle Scout with replica Eagle regalia, identical to the pieces he lost in a house fire years ago.

Mayfield said not much has changed about the troop over the past 95 years and that many of the values are still practiced and encouraged. He said scouts embody the values of being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

“And those values have stayed the same throughout the entire history of the boy scouts,” Mayfield said.

“The culture and the values have stayed the same since the beginning, and it’s for young people to come together and learn skills of leadership and to grow together.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Boy Scout Troop 30 celebrates 95 years