Smith remembers bicycling merit badge

Jim Smith of Caledonia remembers getting his bicycling merit badge from Boy Scouts in 1942.

“I belonged to a Boy Scout troop in Caledonia and we were trying to get our bicycling merit badge,” Smith said. “To get it, we had to make several 25 mile trips. We would ride to Potosi for a movie and back for that and most of the troop participated.

“But,” he said, “when we got ready for the 50-mile ride, there was only me and Lindell Akers, who lives in Belgrade now, who made the trip. Lindell had had polio and had to wear leg braces and he couldn’t even stand up, but he made that trip with me. He pushed the pedal with his one good foot all the way.”

Smith, who is now retired, said he got so much out of Scouts. “We used to go camping and that was great. You know Camp Irondale was going really big then. They used to bring trains down from St. Louis full of Scouts for the camp.”