Figure 1.--Many Boy Scouts in various countries after World War II began wearing berets instead of the traditiinal Scout hat. This photograph shows a Canadian Scout. Note the military look. |
French Scouts wore berets from an early stage of the development
of the Boy Scout movement. Most Scouts around the world, however,
wore the lemon squeezer hat chosen by Lord Baden Powell. (Americans call
it a Smokey the Bear cap. It was not until after World
War II that Scouts in many other countries commonly began wearing them.
French Boy Scots initially wore the beret much as school boys did,
either pulled down or as a pancake. After World War II, however, as Scouts
began wearing berets, they tended to wear it at an angle with
"attitude," adopting
a military style. Girl Scout, Guide, and Browie groups wearing berets,
never it wore them at an angle with this military look.
Only Scouts to my knowledge adopted the beret. I do not know of any
Cub groups which wear berets. Brownies (Girl Cubs, the junior division
of the Girl Scouts) in America, however, did wear berets--brown colored
ones.
I assume Belgian Scouts like French Scouts wore berets, but I have
no details on this.
Canadian Scouts wear dark green berets. I am not sure just when the
beret was adopted by the Canadian Scout association.
English Scouts adopted black berets as part of the official uniform
in 1969. English Cubs continued to wear the traditional peaked cap. The
Scouts had been complaining about the lemon-squeezer hat because it was
expensive and hard to maintain. English Scouts are now less interested in
the Scout uniform, but generally speaking the English Scouts take uniform more
serious than other European Scouts.
Figure 2.--Irish Catholic Scouts wear a light-blue beret. The Cubs, however, contnue to wear the traditional peaked cap. |
There are several different Scout associations in France. They have
many different uniforms. Many have traditiinally worn black berets,
although uniform standards and the boys' interest in wearing a uniform
has declined in recent years.
Irish Catholic Scouts wear light blue berets. I'm not sure about
other Irish Scouts. Some of the boys berets appear large and floppy.
Urish Cubs continue to wear the traditional peaked cap.
Some Italian Scouts have wore berets, primarily black ones. Italian
Cubs wear the traditional peaked caps.
Some Dutch Scouts have worn black berets. I'm not sure if this was an
official
uniform or a decision by an individual unit. As in other European
countries, uniform standards among Dutch Scouts have declined in recent
years.
Figure 3.--Several individual American Scout troops adopted a red beret beginning in the 1960s. |
Some American Scouts began wearing red berets in the 1960s. It was never
the official Scout headgear, but it was sanctioned by the Boy Scout Association
and a number of troops adopted it. American boys never wore the large
floppy berets worn by some European Scouts. It was particularly popular
in the 1970s and 80s, but has fallen out of fashion in the 1990s.
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