Arrow of Light
Worn by adults who
earned the Arrow of Light as a youth member.
Note that the current
"Arrow of Light" patch worn by youth members (shown below), was called the
"Webelos award" from 1941 to 1967. When the current Webelos rank was
created in 1967 (replacing the Lion rank, the former Webelos rank was renamed
the "Arrow of Light". Scouters who earned the patch under the old
system are also eligible to wear the knot shown above. It's basically
the same award with a different name.
For current requirements
see
Webelos - Arrow of Light Badge
Historical Note:
The Arrow of Light Square
Knot is an adult only item. It was first issued in the days of the older
khaki-green shirts with the green rope forming the standing loop and the
red rope ends to the left. When BSA switched to the new khaki-tan an error
was made in ordering and for several months two versions of the knot were
being sold. One was the original configuration with the green standing loop
and the other was a complete reversal of the color scheme with a red standing
loop. (I was one of those Scouters that ended up with some uniforms having
the older version and some uniforms with the newer version - both with the
new khaki-tan background. - MFB) Apparently more than 20,000 knots were
produced with the new color scheme before BSA reached a decision on what
to do. In the end, BSA elected to use the new color scheme and to pull remaining
stocks of the old version. Rumors persist that BSA may use the old design
for a new award to recognize recipients of the Youth Leadership in America
Award and the Congressional Award. However, this remains speculation at
this point.
Early Version of
the New Design
|
Old Design
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Our thanks to Mike Walton for the original
scans of these knots,
and to Mike Walton and Mike Bowman for the original text on this page.
Page updated on:
May 23, 2014
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