Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America) - Course Slowly Adopted By U.S. Scouters

Course Slowly Adopted By U.S. Scouters

Francis Gidney, the first camp chief of Gilwell Park, came to the United States in 1922 at the instigation of Walter W. Head, a member of the Boy Scouts of America National Board, and later its President. While Gidney demonstrated some of the Scoutcraft tricks from Gilwell, his ideas did not arouse interest, but were treated as entertainment by the American audience. A number of American Scouters later traveled to England and took the British Wood Badge course. These included assistant director of Volunteer Training Gunnar Berg and assistant director of camping William C. Wessel. Though the national training department approved a "Gillwill Training Camp" to be held at Camp Parsons in 1929 (conducted by John A. Stiles, the Chief Scout Executive of Canada), the prevailing attitude of the Boy Scouts of America was that American men would not set aside eight days from their busy lives to attend the course.