Boy Scouts' honor celebrated

The sight of an 800-square foot American flag gliding slowly down to a field dotted by saluting arms summed up everything Saturday meant to the dozens of Boy Scouts at Cantigny Park.

The skydivers attached to the flag did a pretty good job of holding the attention of the crowd as well. Once on the field, they became part of a day of learning for all involved.

Scouts from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, DeKalb and Will counties mobbed the grounds of the park in unincorporated Wheaton to celebrate nearly 100 years of Boy Scout history.

As such, all the basics of the past were on display. One scout leader demonstrated the trials of starting a fire with two sticks and a bow. Another set of scouts showed the great joy of building your own pea shooter and taking aim, but not at a fellow scout. And still another set of scouts showed how to build your own rocket out of water, a plastic tube about the size of a 35 mm roll of film and Alka Seltzer tablets.

If that wasn't enough to spark a burning need to earn a merit badge, then there were plenty of displays of military muscle on hand for scouts already eyeing that step of service to country.

The Navy sponsored a pull-up station for any scout to see how close they are to matching the feats of strength necessary to become a seaman. The line stretched at least 20 scouts deep, most of them 8 years old or younger. The result saw a whole lot of pulling, but not much up. Scouts brave enough to give it a shot received a Navy water bottle for the effort.

Retired Army Commanding Gen. David Grange of Wheaton helped organize Cantigny's participation in the event. He said he wanted Cantigny to host the event because the mission of the Boy Scouts and the park is so similar that he knew the scouts would appreciate the setting.

"Our mission is to strengthen a free democratic society by investing in our children, communities and country," Grange said. "The scouts are about children, youth and country."

Grange also has two sons who achieved the highest accomplishment for a Boy Scout -- the rank of Eagle Scout. One son is now at West Point. The other son is on a running scholarship at Iona College in New York.

"Scouts played a part in raising them into the men they are today," Grange said. "I'd say scouts did them pretty well."