Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

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Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

Medal and knot with device
Award data
Country United States of America
Created 1969
Founder Boy Scouts of America
Awarded for Distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least twenty-five years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout.
Recipients < 2000
Scouting Scouting portal
Distinguished Service Awards
Silver Buffalo Award
Silver Antelope Award
Silver Beaver Award
Silver World Award

The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least twenty-five years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout. Other requirements include significant accomplishment in one's career and a solid record of continued community volunteer involvement. It is the only BSA award given to adults that is dependent upon the recipient's association in the BSA as a youth. Recipients are known as Distinguished Eagle Scouts.

Contents

[edit] Award

The award consists of a gold eagle suspended from a red, white, and blue ribbon worn around the neck. Recipients may wear a small gold eagle device on the Eagle Scout square knot on the Scout uniform.[1] The eagles use the same design as on the Eagle Scout medal. The Distinguished Eagle Scout medal is worn in place of the regular Eagle Scout medal for Eagle Scout-related ceremonies. The recipient is also presented with an engraved bronze plaque and is made a member of the Board of Regents of the National Eagle Scout Association.

[edit] History

The DESA was first introduced in 1969 and awarded by the National Eagle Scout Association.

Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, the first and only "gold Eagle Scout badge" was awarded to Dan Beard at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina.[2]

As of the end of 2005, 1,835,410 Scouts had earned the rank of Eagle. Since its introduction in 1969, the DESA has only been awarded to just under 2000 of those Scouts.[3] Thus, only about 1 of every 1000 Eagle Scouts has received the award.

[edit] Recipients

For more details on this topic, see List of Eagle Scouts (Boy Scouts of America).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Distinguished Service Awards. Fact Sheets. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  2. ^ Rowan, Edward L (2005). To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America. Las Vegas International Scouting Museum. ISBN 0-9746479-1-8. 
  3. ^ Eagle Scouts. Fact Sheet. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.