Eighty years ago this month, this unnamed Scout performing his civil defense duties is shown on the cover of Boys’ Life magazine, October 1942. His armband is the insignia of a civilian defense messenger, but all we know about him comes from his uniform, that he is that he’s a Patrol Leader of Troop 3 in Mt. Vernon. Unfortunately, there are dozens of towns named Mt. Vernon in the U.S., but his uniform doesn’t indicate the state.

This issue of the magazine talks about other Scouts engaged in defense related activities, but doesn’t specifically talk about the Scout on the cover. But the magazine gives an important clue, namely, the identity of the photgrapher, Emil Brodbeck, whose Amazon author page reveals that he was obviously an accomplished photographer.

According to Brodbeck’s 2003 obituary, he was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and resided there until 1987. And according to this newspaper article, there was a Troop 3 in Mt. Vernon, NY, in 1955. So it seems very likely that this Scout was doing his part to serve the citizens of that New York community.

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