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Jack Pernet in his Boy Scout uniform, sometime in the late 1910s or early 1920s. Jack probably belonged to Troop 158 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where this photo was taken. In the background on right is a tall smokestack belonging to the Phoenix Iron Company, which, despite the closure and subsequent demolition of the plant in the 1980s, miraculously still survives. Its location pinpoints the photo as being taken in the back yard 393 Washington Avenue in that borough, where the Pernet family lived for many years. Jack, a graduate of Phoenixville High School's class of 1926, lived to see its 70th reunion but died in 1997. View full size.
I would trust this scout. He looks so serious and prepared. Scouting is still a great thing for boys!
Jack is a fine specimen of a Boy Scout. He is a patrol leader (the 2 bar patch on his left sleeve) and has a one year star pin above his left pocket. The first digit of his troop number is "1" and the patrol patch is tantalizingly seen on edge on the right sleeve. Official Boy Scout knife clipped to his belt. Web belt and canteen look like WWI surplus gear. No rank insignia is visible, which is a shame, but some sort of patch is on his right pocket, probably for a campout or an activity. And, Jack seems to have very large hands for a boy.
Jack is prepared!
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