Comments on Orange County Memories: Jamboree Road

In 1953 I attended the National Jamboree at Irvine...

2010-07-29T08:15:01.607-07:00

In 1953 I attended the National Jamboree at Irvine Ranch as a lad of thirteen. I still have many pleasant memories of that event, the trip out, and the trip back. I still have 1953 Jamboree neckerchiefs and patches that will someday go to my sons and grandchildren.

My sons (both Eagle Scouts)attended the 1981 Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, VA. I was one of the asst scoutmasters of our area jamboree troop and was with them.

Today, as I write this, my oldest grandson is at the 2010 Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill. His dad, my older son, has gone there to "check on" his son. I suspect he also wants to relive some of the great memories from the 1981 Jamboree.

WOW! What wonderful memories of Boy Scouting!

I'm an Eagle Scout, a former Webelos leader, a former Scoutmaster, and an electrical engineer,now 70 years of age.

I was a 13 year old boy scout from Liberty, Texas,...

2010-07-16T22:06:20.526-07:00

I was a 13 year old boy scout from Liberty, Texas, a town of then about 3,000 inhabitants east of Houston, Texas when 30 local scouts (Troop 55) went to the California 1953 Jamboree. We were troop 29, section 33 if I recall right. We went by train west to El Paso Texas (and into Juarez, Mexico) and Grand Canyon before arriving in Los Angeles and seeing the Rose Bowl from a bus I guess as we ended our trip. Some of our Liberty scouts got the mumps and spent most of the Jamboree in the camp hospital where their pictures were in newspapers across the USA showing off their mumps. It was a lot of fun, swimming in the very cold Pacific and seeing the big outdoor shows every night. I still have my neckerchief (shows to be worth about $29 on EBay). In 2003 I realized one day that it was about to be the 50th anniversary of the California 1953 Jamboree, and I contacted the national scouting office to learn that the California scouts were scheduling a reunion and anticipating about 500 participants. I attended the reunion, as did the Jamboree bugler and one of the camp hospital nurses who was able to call one of the Liberty "mumps" scouts by name after 50 years. I wish that there was a Texas or national directory of all the scouts who attended the 1953 California Jamboree. Actually the activities of our troop didn't include a lot of interaction with scouts from other places however. If anyone could create a repository for names and addresses and or Email addresses for scouts, showing where they were from when they attended, I think that would be great. An Email chain letter might be able to build this. The national scout organization might be interested, as an aid in fund raising. The Jamboree was a great experience. I had been back to the area in 1978 and at the reunion was shown the area where possibly my troop camped, which is now part of "Fashion Island" and is all completely built up. Our Liberty scout master was named Bill Rowe who was a perfect and ideal scout master to all of us for the many years that he served as scout master. He is now deceased. Sincerely,
Dale P. Johnson
Dale.Johnson@Regions.com
dpj@webtv.net
P. O. Box 25301, Dallas
Texas 75225
Tel 214-360-1877 work
214-526-5511 home

Approximately 300 scouts from KY, OH and WV left o...

2010-01-25T14:16:01.383-08:00

Approximately 300 scouts from KY, OH and WV left on a train from Louisville, KY for a 3 day trip out to the Jamboree. Those of us from Louisville were with a troop from Ft. Knox and the Army supplied much of the equipment we used. On the way out, we stopped in St. Louis, Kansas City and the Grand Canyon. We were met at the train station in CA by girls who gave us oranges. At the Jamboree site we found that the ground was so hard that tent stakes could not be driven in so we "dead maned" the stakes in a small trenches that we dug and poured water in to make "cement" to hold them in. When we broke camp at the end all that we could do was cut the ropes off at the ground level and leave the stakes there. Our troop stayed at the camp site for a few days after the Jamboree and went on side trips to Mt. Palomar, San Juan Capistrano, Huntington Beach, Knott's Berry Farm, etc. On the way home, our train made stops and we did tours in Salt Lake City, Denver, Yellowstone Park. Of course the major shows at the Jamboree are memorable with many Hollywood stars coming.

I have visited the area in recent years where the Jamboree was held and it is difficult to imagine what it was like in 1953 with dry baked earth and no trees.

The biggest shock is to go to Google Earth and see...

2009-08-31T13:13:40.378-07:00

The biggest shock is to go to Google Earth and see what the pasture land that enthralled this 13 year old in 1953 has become today.
noel funchess, Cleveland, MS

It was wonderful to read all these comments from p...

2009-06-14T15:02:34.998-07:00

It was wonderful to read all these comments from people who attended the 1953 jamboree. I was an 11 year old boy from Marshall County, Alabama. We went on 4 buses across the country and camped on military bases along the way. A picture was made of me and a scout from Alaska. I was the shortest scout there and he was the tallest. Wish I had a copy of that picture. It was the trip of a lifetime. I think about it often and share my memories of the trip with my family.

It was a great adventure for a boy of 12 and the c...

2009-05-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

It was a great adventure for a boy of 12 and the composite troop from the Sam Houston Area council in Houston. The train ride through the rockies, the royal gorge and the Grand Canyon. I will never forget that summer. The people of Southern California were very generous and donated boats to take us out to Catalina Island. We brought horned frogs (a lizard native to Texas) to trade. I can remember the white dust of the Irvine ranch covering us by the end of the day. Just a great memory!

I remember the scout jamboree of 53 very well. Sti...

2009-02-23T22:20:00.000-08:00

I remember the scout jamboree of 53 very well. Still have a whet stone from that...

I was a member of troop 504 at Trinity Methodist C...

2009-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

I was a member of troop 504 at Trinity Methodist Church, Darlington, SC and my Dad was the scoutmaster. My Father stayed home and paid my way with a small group from the area. We gathered in Florence, SC at the train station and connected with a train load of scouts that went through Atlanta, GA through Texas to California. It was a long, rocky ride with a lot of teasing, playing tricks, trading patches, and buying horned toads from the Texas troups. At Irving Ranch, we used cardboard on the grass hills and got cuts and bruses after long slides. The shows at night were great. I still have the patches and jackets as memories for my grandchildren.

I am the Grandaughter and Niece of my two uncles t...

2008-11-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

I am the Grandaughter and Niece of my two uncles that all attended the Jamboree in 1953, I have a Pendent that My Grandfather brought home for his Mother - It is gold and reads Mother and off it hangs a gold locket with a pearlized finish and a gold pair of boots - I have always loved it - on the back of the locket it has a boy scout seal with the words National Boy Scout Jamboree 1953 CA... I am so proud to own it and know that my Grandfather was part of such a wonderful organization and was able to take his to sons to experience this event..

Utah

The trip to Irving Ranch was a first for our famil...

2008-07-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

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.

What a wonderful trip that was for a 13-year-old. ...

2008-05-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

I attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree in 1953...

2008-01-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

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!

I was twelve years old when I visited the Jamboree...

2007-11-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

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

AS a parent and youth Scout Leader I am very proud...

2007-10-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

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.

I was born 1953, but my older brother Johnny Resse...

2007-05-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

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

The 1953 Jamboree started for this 13 year old ups...

2007-04-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

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".

I also vividly remember the Jamboree. I was just ...

2007-03-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

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).

The Jamboree and the attraction of California had ...

2007-01-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

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

I enjoyed my time at the Jamboree with lots of fon...

2006-12-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

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.