Review of Eagle Scouts in Orange County, Virginia, 1934-1970 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian
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This blog began in 2019 with a focus on Scouting history in Orange County, Virginia, and its surroundings. It would not be complete without attention being duly given to the Eagle Scouts who rose up in this county beginning in 1933 when the first Orange County Eagle Scout badge was awarded. I have been remiss in not compiling and presenting this information to readers sooner.
Unfortunately, the records of Eagle Scout awards maintained by the local Boy Scout council with jurisdiction over Orange County (the Virginia Headwaters Council–formerly the Stonewall Jackson Area Council) are incomplete, and this council has been in existence (in one form or another) since early 1927. This essay attempts to bring together a variety of sources to present a comprehensive summary of Orange County’s Eagle Scouts awarded from 1934-1970. If readers can provide any additional information or photographs for Orange County’s Eagle Scouts during this period, please contact the author at rayezell_2000@yahoo.com. (Note: when possible this essay uses the date that the Eagle Scout requirements were completed as this is the official date of the rank, unless otherwise noted.)
The distinction of the first Eagle Scout in Orange County went to Alexander Stuart (Robbie) Robertson, Jr. on December 22, 1933, as a member of Orange Troop No. 1 (now Troop #14). He joined the troop in May 1931. After completing his time in the unit, he went on to serve as a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during WWII. Robertson’s father, A. Stuart Robertson, Sr., was an active booster of the Scouting movement in Orange for many years and served as an officer in the short lived Lewis and Clark Area Council (1927-1931) and after its dissolution, in the Stonewall Jackson Area Council which included Orange County. Later, Robertson, Jr. served for several years as chairman of the Piedmont District of the Stonewall Jackson Area Council, which included Orange County.
Virginia Headwaters Council records indicate that the next Eagle badges for Orange scouts were completed on September 27, 1938 when Robert M. Draney, Heywood Jacquelin (Jack) Knighton, Lyell A. Knighton, and Harry B. Sedwick, Jr. of Troop No. 1 earned their Eagle ranks. Draney and Sedwick, Jr. had joined the troop by November 1934, Jack Knighton in August 1933, and Lyell Knighton in June 1931. Jack Knighton and H.B. Sedwick were members of the council contingent to the BSA National Jamboree in 1937 and were members of a jamboree host unit. Knighton went on to graduate from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (V.P.I.) in 1942, and while there he was a cadet in the Coast Artillery corps. His brother, Lyell, was chosen as Orange’s delegate (along with Charles Johnson) to the 1935 BSA National Jamboree in Washington, D.C. (however the Jamboree was cancelled due to a polio epidemic and was rescheduled for 1937), precluding Lyell from attending. Lyell later served as a captain in the US Army Air Forces during WWII. Robert Draney also served as a pilot in the Army Air Forces during WWII and during the Korean Conflict. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 13 Oak Leaf Clusters, and two presidential unit citations for his service. Sedwick also served in the US Army Air Forces during WWII as a 2nd lieutenant and navigator on a B-24 “Liberator” bomber dubbed, “Oh My Aching Back“.
Beverly Jones, who had been in the Orange troop since November 1934, completed the Eagle scout requirements in October 1938. Jones, along with the Knighton brothers, were presented their Eagle badges in a court of honor on December 27, 1938, at the Orange County courthouse by W.L. Lord. Stonewall Jackson Council Executive J.W. Fix presided over this ceremony.
In addition to the Eagle Scouts mentioned above, William Breckenridge Grymes and Beverly Morris earned the Eagle rank in October 1939. Grymes joined the troop in July 1936, and Morris joined the troop in May 1935. Grymes served as a Sergeant in the Army Air Forces, 343 Bomber Squadron (98th Bomber Group) during WWII. He was decorated with the Air Medal for twenty one combat missions, and he was killed in action on December 23, 1944, over Bari, Italy. Edward B. Sparks, who’s names is missing from the council’s Eagle Scout database, joined the unit in early 1936 and was reported by the May 14, 1970, issue of the Orange Review to have earned Eagle sometime in 1939. Following the example of several other Orange Eagle Scouts, Sparks served in the U.S. Army during WWII and he was presented with the Bronze Star for valor. Troop No. 1’s 1940 recharter paperwork indicates that there were a total of six Eagle Scouts on the troop roster that year–a feat that has not been repeated since.
John Hankins was awarded his Eagle rank in June 1941 at a camporee held along Pamunkey Creek near Lahore. He served in the U.S. Navy as an Apprentice Seaman from 1943-1945 and served as Captain and Surgeon (Medical Corps) in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1945-1956. In July 1948, James Neyhart earned Eagle Scout at Camp Shenandoah; and in September 1948, William Fray was made an Eagle Scout. G. Alec Waugh, Jr., son of longtime Orange Troop No. 1 Assistant Scoutmaster Goree Waugh, earned the Eagle Rank on September 30, 1954. In November 1954, Aubrey Daniel and Jimmie Halley advanced to Eagle Scouts. James B. Terrill earned his Eagle in November 1955, and he attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree in 1957. Rosser H. Brockman, II completed the requirements for Eagle Scout in November 1958, and in October 1959, Scott Schafer also earned Scouting’s highest rank. Scott Schafer later attended the United States Air Force Academy.
About 1958, Orange Explorer Post No. 14 was organized and was chartered by the Orange Rotary Club. The Exploring program typically transitioned older boy scouts into a more intensive program of outdoor activities (sometimes referred to as Senior Scouting). Both Orange Boy Scouts and Explorers typically met together and participated in many of the same outdoor activities, and the Explorers also continued to advance to the rank of Eagle Scout. The Orange Review reported that on December 6, 1962, four Explorers in Orange Post No. 14 were awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. They were Donald Schafer, Drew Daniels, Benny Sedwick, III (son of Eagle Scout H.B. Sedwick, Jr.), and George Jones. They are all pictured below in the photo from 1964, along with older Eagle Scout Alec Waugh and future Eagle Scout Tommy Sparks. When asked how earning the rank of Eagle Scout impacted his life as an adult, Benny Sedwick, III answered, “I am very proud to be a second-generation Eagle Scout and strive to conduct myself in accordance with the Scout Oath and follow in my father’s principles of the Scout Law.”
Eagle Scouts Drew Daniels and and Benny Sedwick, III are pictured below in a photo taken by the Orange Review in 1962 as they prepared for a camporee.
Post No. 14 also had other Eagle Scouts, including Henry Micks in October 1964 and Thomas N. Sparks in November 1964. A few years later, A. Wilson Sommerville was presented with the Eagle Scout rank in December 1966. His younger brother, Frank, attained the rank of Life Scout in the same post. They are pictured below with their sister who was an active Girl Scout.
Mark Graham was reported by the Orange Review in 1970 as the 43rd Eagle Scout from Orange County when he was presented the rank in May of that year as a member of Troop No. 14. He later went on to serve for several years as the treasurer of the Stonewall Jackson Area Boy Scout Council.
The first reported Eagle Scout in Gordonsville Troop No. 1 (now Troop #12) was Billy H. Goodwin who earned Scouting’s highest rank on October 5, 1939. He had been in the troop for nearly 10 years. The next Eagle Scout was John E. Holladay who became an Eagle Scout at Camp Shenandoah in July 1940. He later served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. William (Billy) C. Yowell, Jr. quickly followed and earned Eagle on September 24, 1940. According to an article published in The Daily News on August 7, 1941, Edward Holladay became an Eagle Scout on August 6, 1941 at Camp Shenandoah. Beverly C. Yowell completed the requirements for Eagle Scout on December 9, 1942 and was awarded the rank at a court of honor on February 12, 1943. He served in the Korean War and was awarded a purple heart. Oscar Schweizer became an Eagle Scout on December 13, 1944. Wylie D. Hoffman was promoted to Eagle Scout on January 3, 1945. He went on to serve in the U.S. Navy from 1948-1952. Tim McCoy earned Eagle on September 17, 1953, and Carl Utz advanced to Eagle Scout on November 15, 1956. George Yowell followed a year later, earning his Eagle rank on March 12, 1957. There was almost a 10 year lapse before the next Eagle Scout was produced by Troop #12. James (Jimbo) M. Holladay was promoted to the rank of Eagle Scout on January 16, 1967. He was the senior patrol leader of the troop, and he was also a member of Explorer Post No. 12.
There have also been a handful of Eagle Scouts from Barboursville Troop No. 109 (originally known as Woodruff Troop No. 1 which was established about 1935). The Orange Review reported on September 14, 1967, that Everett L. Herndon, Jr. and Michael D. Miller were presented the rank of Eagle Scout during the same court of honor ceremony. Herndon (the son of the troop’s scoutmaster, Everette Herndon, Sr.) was the first in a line of four brothers from Barboursville that attained Scouting’s highest rank. Daniel Green advanced to the rank of Eagle Scout on December 19, 1969, and was presented with his badge at a ceremony in June 1970. This troop is no longer active.
The first Eagle Scout in Unionville (in central Orange County) was reported to be Charles Hudson. He completed the Eagle Scout requirements in November 1960 and was a member of Troop 97 in Unionville. According to the June 9, 1966 article in the Orange Review, the second Eagle Scout from Unionville was Robert Wood, who completed the requirements for Eagle Scout on April 4, 1966 as a member of Troop 97. The article indicated that Wood was the 20th Eagle Scout in Orange County at that time. On April 25, 1968, the Orange Review reported that Danny Perkins (Troop No. 97) was awarded the Eagle Scout rank. Donald Wilson completed the requirements for Eagle Scout on June 16, 1969.
Scouting in Orange County has demonstrated a rich tradition in producing Eagle Scouts over the past 90 years. Even though the number of troops still active has diminished since 1970, Orange County troops have continued to mentor youth transformed on their “Trail to Eagle Scout”. There is no reason to think that Scouting in Orange County will be diminished in the coming decades, while the rank of Eagle Scout remains a highly coveted and well respected achievement.
