Notable Eagle Scout: Mitchell Paige

Distinguished Eagle Scout Mitchell Paige (center) with BSA President Roy Roberts (left) and Chief Scout Executive Roy Williams (right)

When Mitchell Paige completed the requirements for Eagle Scout in 1936, he didn't hound his Scoutmaster to make sure the paperwork went through—he had more important things to do. On his 18th birthday, he walked 200 miles from his home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, Maryland, to begin a Marine Corps career that included his receiving the Medal of Honor. For years, he referred often to being an Eagle, but decades later Paige, now 74, discovered that his paperwork had never been completed. He told his story to a friend, who helped him piece together the missing paper trail, and then to North Florida Council Scout Executive John Reesor, who helped him complete the 67-year-old paperwork. Paige received his long-awaited Eagle Scout Award at a council banquet the following spring, and was recognized in May at the BSA's National Annual Meeting, when he received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Col. Paige passed away on November 15, 2003.

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