"Night and day the natives around Sutton Colfield, England, can see the 34,000 camp fires of the Boy Scout Jubilee.  Around these fires, the boy snot only cook 3 meals a day, they also sit around them, telling stories and singing songs.  All of these boys have gone on camping and hiking trips at home and cooked parts of a few meals over camp fires, but there are very few of them who have cooked 3 meals, complete, 3 times daily, over a camp fire.

"The English weather really acted up for her visitors.  Soon after they arrived and set up camp, they were hit by a severe rain and wind storm.  The American boys were the hardest hit.  They had landed at Southhampton on one ship, and their gear came in later on another ship. So the storms caught the American boys living in jerry constructed tents (Hi, Jerry), which collapsed in the storm.  The boys took shelter in nearby school and church houses.  And there is not a thing in the Boy Scout Handbook, telling a boy what to do in case like that.

"The 1,800 American Scouts all wear bright red wind breakers over their uniforms.  When asked the reason for this, an American leader replied that it was so the boys could be spotted and recognized with greater ease.  However, this mark of distinction seemed not to be bothering the boys in the least, as they went busily about their camp site having a very good time.  The good times include getting acquainted, visiting swapping, (yarns, as well as other articles).

"The Scouts are camped on 750 acres, backed up by 2,400 acres of parkland and lakes.  The tents are not all constructed in the same way.  The boys who come from the swampy lowlands country, have their tents erected on stilts.  Then there are the grass-thatched tents of the boys from the torrid zones of the world.  Rubbing shoulders with these, are the igloos of the boys from the Northland, made of plastic ice squares.

"These Scouts cook 2,000,000 meals daily, use 1/2 million eggs daily and a 1/2 million loves of bread each day.

"There are boys from 82 nations represented at the Jubilee.  Seeing these boys of all nationalities and from all walks of life, living together so harmonious, should be a lesson to the adults of the world.  Of course, Boy Scouts are non-political, and that could be one reason for all the harmony."

The contingent from the  United States sailed on the Italian liner Fairsea and it took them two weeks to get to England. They arrived at the Jamboree site on July 30th.  They boarded the Fairsea on August 26, 1957 and headed for New York. Here are some of the news releases that Tom Cody Grave of Goldthwaite wrote to his local paper.

"Undated - I am sorry I haven't written, but this is the only and first time I could write.  We now have been on this ship (M-U Fairsea) for eight days.  Nearly everyone on ship has been sick with seasickness, head colds, or flu.  I have been lucky and haven't been sick any, although I am still dodging certain boys because many innocent bystanders have been hit by boys who didn't quite make it to the rail.  we left quebec July 22 and for the first two days sailed down the St. Lawrence River.  Then we sailed out through the bell Island Strait and into the Atlantic Ocean.  Our ship is about two - blocks long.  As usual I am separated from our troop.  All of buy four, are in the stern of the ship and the four boys from Texas are in the cabin that is nearest the bow of the ship.

"When we hit a big wave at night we have to grab for our bed rails or out we go.  And talk about FOOD, the first meal had six courses and none, except breakfast, which has four courses, have had any less an some have had more.  Sunday, I was lucky enough to be picked to play in the brass choir.  Our band for the Jubilee put on a concert for all the ship Sunday and it seemed to go over swell.

"In the mornings, Clinton Arthur, from Stephenville, and I are the only ones who get up for breakfast and if we can get outside of our cabins half-dressed before we get hit it's a miracle.  We have lost four hours since we left Valley forge.  It's plenty bad having only 23 hours in a day.  There goes some idiot playing taps, gotta sleep."

Tom Cody

"P.S.  All our leaders including our Scoutmaster, both ass't Scoutmasters, and Senior Patrol and my Patrol Leader have been sick."

"ENGLAND, AUB. 7 - Dear Editor:  This has been the most interesting week of our trip.  Saturday, August 3, we saw the Queen of England and the Duek of Edinburgh.  My assistant scoutmaster, Mr. McKnight, got so close to the Queen taking pictures that the queen, stopped and talked to him.

"Monday, August 5, we saw Lady Baden Powell and the president of the World Council of Boy Scouts.  Later that day we saw the president of the English Boy Scouts.  I even got to talk to him.  monday night we had a rainstorm that was one of the worst storms this year.  The papers in England said that all of the boys had to be evacuated, but we haven't found any yet that have.

"Today, Wednesday, we are going to the chocolate candy center of England.   Tomorrow we go near Liverpool to the lard boat works."

Sincerely,
Tom Graves

AUGUST 16
Dear Editor:  The Jubilee is officially over.  We had a wonderful time there.  While we were at the Jubilee we visited the Cadbury candy factory, the largest in the world.  Nest day we went to John A. Summer's and Son steel mill, the largest in England.

" After the Jubilee officially closed we went to London.  We toured London Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon we went to Folkestown, boarded a ferry, and crossed the English Channel which was very rough.

"We arrived in France at 9 p.m. and boarded the train.  We slept on the train Wednesday night and arrived at Berne, Switzerland at 8 a.m.  We toured the city and did some shopping.

"Friday morning we left Berne and traveled by bus to Interlaken.  We were free all afternoon so a few of us eggheads decided to go bicycling.  We started out at 1 p.m. and got back at 5.  All we did was go up and down mountains.  The only trouble we got in was, by accident, we got on an airport runway with bicycles and were having a gay old time when all the sirens started going.  No more room."

Tom Graves

SMITS, Utrecht, Holland
August 21, 1957
"Dear Editor - We are really moving around, we went all over Switzerland.  We went in the Rhone glacier and through the high passes in the Alps.  After we left Switzerland, we went to Germany.  We spent the night at Heidelburg, Germany.  We toured Heidelburg and then had about an hour of free time.  Yesterday (Tuesday) we spent on a boat going down the Rhine River.  We saw castles all over the place.  We spent the night in Bad Godesburg Germany.

"We stayed in a hotel that Hitler ahd stayed in .  We had last choice of hotels that night.

"Today we came from Germany to Ultrecht, Holland.  Tomorrow we go to Brussels, Belgium. Then August 23, we arrive in Paris and stay there for two days,  until August 25, then we go to Le Harve and board ship for home."

Sincerely,
Tom

P.S. I hope to get one more letter in, MAYBE

There were no more letters from Tom Cody given to us by his mother, Mrs. T. C. Graves of Goldthwaite.

Robert Cobb and James Fanning, both of Comanche, and Thomas C. Yantis, of Brownwood, attended the 12th Boy Scout World Jamboree at Farragut State Park, Idaho August 1-9,f 1967.  The was the first World Boy Scout Jamboree to ever be hled in the United States.

A contingent of three Scouts attended the 1983 15th World Jamboree, July 5-15, 1983 held in Kananaskis County, Alberta, Canada from the Comanche Trail Council.  We are still looking for the names of those Scouts.