Excerpt from Naugatuck Daily News – Saturday, August 31, 1946
World War II - History Edition

Boy Scouts Messengers
Salvage, Blood Bank, Medical Center, War Council Assignments Taken

The Naugatuck District of Mattatuck Council Boy Scouts of America responded to the support of the Naugatuck War Council in many ways during World War II.

One of the direct services to the War Council was in their capacity as messengers. Scouts were given special prescribed training on messenger service and were then assigned to various divisions, some being assigned to air raid wardens, some to the Medical Center, some to Council Headquarters. Scouts also acted as victims during trial air raid alarms. Another outstanding service was with each visit of the Blood Bank to Naugatuck. Scouts were assigned to assist in unloading equipment from the truck and in setting up the equipment in the medical center, and later to assist in taking down the equipment and reloading the Blood Bank Truck. One or more scouts were on duty all during the visit to assist. Before each visit Scouts were assigned to help dismantle hospital room of Medical Center to make room for Blood Bank, and later they helped reassemble the room and its hospital equipment.

The Scouts made a concerted effort to help the salvage drives. Even before the council organized paper collections the scouts had collected well over 100,000 pounds of paper. During the council paper drives the scouts continued to turn in paper by the tons. The National Boy Scouts of America awarded special Eisenhower medals for Scouts who turned in 1,000 pounds of paper during an allotted time and many of the Naugatuck District Scouts received this award.