10 Comments:

• I enjoyed my time at the Jamboree with lots of fond memories. I was 15 years old. It was quite a trip out from Ohio on the train. Coming out we came the southern route through Arizona etc. and returned through San Francisco, Utah and Colorado. When we arrived in Orange County at the train station we were given all the oranges we wanted, just to let us know where we were. Particularly I remember that I couldn't see what was going on at the main assemblies and realized that I needed glasses! Have worn them ever since. We swam in both the ocean and the great salt lake. Lots of fun.

  By  Anonymous, at December 09, 2006 6:09 PM  

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• The Jamboree and the attraction of California had a major impact on the life of this Texas kid. It was possible to send the kid back to Texas, but not take California from the kid.
  
  I remeber the smell of the citrus groves when our Scout Special Train stopped in Fullerton.
  
  After the heat and humidity of a mostly unairconditioned Texas (this was 1953) the dry climate of Irvine Ranch was bracing.
  
  Standing on a hillside on Irvine Ranch looking down at Newport Beach and Balboa was sublime.
  
  We were taken all over Orange and Los Angeles Counties in convoys of yellow school busses which were of a type we never saw in Texa, quite posh.
  
  We boys were made to feel special and honored throughout our tours of Southern California. Hollywood, Knotts Berry Farm (there was no Disneyland yet)swimming at Huntington Beach.
  
  Thanks for the memories.
  
  An Old Scout

  By  Anonymous, at January 11, 2007 5:38 PM  

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• I also vividly remember the Jamboree. I was just a cub and so I was just a visitor. (My dad took me.) I remember the smellof army oiled canvas tents and that it was in the middle of no where(Then, not now).

  By  Al Smith, at March 18, 2007 11:10 PM  

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• The 1953 Jamboree started for this 13 year old upstate NY Scout on a train, our home for all but 10 days out of a 3 week trip of a life time.We saw Chicago, Denver,Salt Lake,Yellowstone,a working ranch etc. Our seats were converted to bunk beds at night( after some modifications in Chicago).I'll never forget all the movie stars and statesmen we met from Roy Rodgers to Richard Nixon. The main arena/ampitheater were mind-boggling as were the extravaganza of spectacular shows which were going on all the time thanks to the huge outpouring of support from Hollywood who were enjoying us as much as we enjoyed them. There is not enough money in the world to duplicate those 10 days now. The return train trip we visited Carlsbad Cavers, Grand Canyon,Reno(it was never the same after they unleashed a whole train full of scouts on the town's slots,casinos,etc where "we did not know we were not allowed".

  By  Anonymous, at April 03, 2007 6:49 PM  

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• I was born 1953, but my older brother Johnny Ressegue attended. I still have patches and other items including his letters home. I did get my chance to attand a National Jamboree in 1969. It was held in Idaho.
  
  William Ressegue
  Now in Palmdale, Ca

  By  Anonymous, at May 12, 2007 8:41 PM  

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• AS a parent and youth Scout Leader I am very proud to be involved in Scout Troop 36 located at Old Myford Road in Irvine. The history of Scouts, Irvine and the Jamboree is felt within the scout house and this alone provides an awesome experience to scouts today as the Jamboree did nearly 55 years ago.
  
  Thanks to all the Scouts before my son, you have paved the road for so many leaders.
  
  Michael Costello
  Irvine, Ca.

  By  Michael Costello, at October 04, 2007 11:04 AM  

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• I was twelve years old when I visited the Jamboree at Irvine Ranch for one day. Although I was a Boy Scout, later an Eagle, I wasn't able to be part of our contingent from Bethlehem, PA. But the visit to Irvine Ranch inspired me in many ways. It was a huge and wonderful event. I also experienced California the way is used to be. Wonderful memories.
  
  Jack J. Lesyk, Ph.D.
  Director, Ohio Center for Sport Psychology, Beachwood, OH
  
  jjlesyk@SportPsych.org

  By  Anonymous, at November 21, 2007 3:06 PM  

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• I attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree in 1953.
  No houses, just lots of acreage under cultivation in what was then the Old Irvine Ranch in Orange County, CA.
  At the closing cerermony a candle lighting was held with all the Scouts and Vice President Richard Nixon in attendance.
  Dorothy Lamour Hollywood movie star also visited the Jamboree.
  That was a special event that a 15 year old kid will never forget.
  Good times!

  By  Anonymous, at January 26, 2008 1:30 PM  

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• What a wonderful trip that was for a 13-year-old. I still have my Jamboree book, with green tents on its front and back cover. We saw sharks in Newport Bay, swam at the beach with helicopters overhead, took a boat ride around Alcatraz, visited Knob Hill, visited Beverley Hills, Knotts berry farm, when it WAS a berry farm, met Bob Hope, Monty Montana, Roy Rogers, Richard Nixon, and scouts from around the world. It was an experience of this old boy's lifetime. When we were at Irvine Ranch in 1953, there was not a permanent building in sight. How things have changed.
  Vaun Skellenger
  Prescott Valley, AZ

  By  Anonymous, at May 09, 2008 6:18 PM  

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• The trip to Irving Ranch was a first for our family. Traveling more than 50 miles from our home in central Texas was unheard of!
  Later I would travel the world but this was a real breakthrough.
  
  As an added bonus, the father of my North Carolina son-in-law was also at that Jamboree so we had an immediate bond well beyond our common experience as Boy Scouts.

  By  Larry R. Day, at July 03, 2008 2:45 PM  

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