Saline Boy Scouts Are on Mackinac Island Today Serving in Governor’s Honor Troop

Two days ago, several Boy Scouts from Saline Troop 446 attached to a blended Unit in Port Huron headed to Mackinaw City and marched off for weeklong service on Mackinac Island. [1]

They’ll be there all this week as part of the “Governor’s Honor Guard,” which was started in 1929. The Mackinac Island Insider Tips website nicely summarizes this tour of duty. [2,3]

These dedicated troops serve as guides at Fort Mackinac and State Park buildings, raise and lower all flags in the State Park and city, help with tours every Wednesday at Michigan Governor’s Summer Residence, and work on Volunteer Service Projects.

Referenced as “troops,” the Governor’s Honor Guard is actually made up of more than a dozen separate scout units, each of which serves for a week on the island. Beginning in 1974, Girl Scouts became part of the Guard (with their first deployment having come from Ann Arbor). Today, Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops typically alternate weeks on Mackinac. [4,5]

Impressively, the only United States President to come from Michigan was also the only Eagle Scout to serve in that office. In August of 1929, Gerald R Ford served on the very first Governor’s Honor Guard. [6,7]

The photograph of the combined Boy Scout Mackinac Island Service Troop 168 above includes Scouts from Saline Troop 446, chartered by Saline Rotary Club. These young men are shown here in Mackinaw City, marching to the Arnold Dock from which they took a ferry to the island. They’ll return by Arnold Ferry this coming Saturday. [8,9,10]

Mackinaw City is located approximately 290 miles north of Saline.

References

1. Boy Scout Troop MIHT168 (home page).
2. “Honor Guard Scouts Have Long History in Fort Mackinac’s Operation” Caitlyn Kienitz (August 30, 2008) Town Crier.
3. “Scouts on Mackinac Island” Mackinac Island Insider Tips.
4. “Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are the Governor’s Honor Guard on Mackinac Island” (January 20, 2010) Mackinac Island Blog.
5. “Mackinac Island Honor Guard” Girl Scouts: Heart of Michigan.
6. “Gerald Ford Historical Photographs, 1928 – 1931 High School” Gerald R Ford Presidential Library & Museum.
7. Image: “H0054-1. Gerald R Ford, Jr poses with other Eagle Scots and Michigan Governor Fred Green during a photo opportunity on Mackinac Island, MI. August 1929” Gerald R Ford Presidential Library & Museum.
8. Troop 446 – Saline, MI: Boy Scouts of America (home page).
9. Troop 446 – Saline, MI: Boy Scouts of America (Facebook Page).
10. Rotary Club of Saline (home page).