1924 Boy Scouts of America World Scout Jamboree Sash
One of the coolest BSA items we have ever gotten at the World Scouting Museum is a 1924 World Scout Jamboree sash worn by the 56 members of the Boy Scouts of America who attended the 1924 World Scout Jamboree in Denmark. There were 54 Eagle Scouts, 1 Life Scout, and 1 Star Scout from the BSA.
Their scouts represented the very best scouts in the BSA. They were all hand-selected by the Chief Scout Executive James West. James West knew that there were going to be scout skill competitions and he wanted the very best scouts representing the Boy Scouts of America. The BSA won every category at the jamboree. Because of the BSA, there has never been any sort of competition at any World Scout Jamboree since.
Each sash was custom-made to display the merit badges he had earned and his BSA rank. They were made by sewing the merit badges together and then adding additional material to the side and bottom to create a sash.
Most of the scouts recorded on the inside of their sash all of the places they visited along the way to the world jamboree and then home again.
This was the first BSA merit badge sash that was created. Scouts wore their merit badges on the sleeves of their uniforms before 1924.
This was the first time the Eagle Scout rank badge was introduced. Before that Eagle Scouts just wore the Eagle medal. All of the other scout ranks had cloth badges. James West was so proud of his troops that he had an Eagle Scout badge just for the 54 Eagle Scouts that were attending the World Scout Jamboree.
