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American youth groups were quite new when World War I began in Europe. Some groups were organized even in the late-19th century, but they were realtively small. The first major group was the Boy Scouts, followed closely by the Camp Fire Girls and Girl Scouts. All of the major groups (Boy Scouts (1910), Girl Scouts, and Camp Fire) organized programs to assist the war and relif efforts. There was also a Junior Red Cross. The Junior Red Cross even enduced boys to join in the knitting campaign (figure 1). These groups began working on relief efforts even before America entered the War (1917). Some of this effort began even before America entered the War. we note Camp Fire Girls making bandages for wounded French soldiers. The Boy Scouts were involved in a wide range of efforts. This included agricultural labor and vegetable gardens to hrelp produce food.
The American Boy Scouts were founded in 1910. Thus they were a very new group at the time of the War. The idea of youth grouops was also quite new and the prigram just begining to evolve. Thus there was no set program for how to support the war effort. We note Scours involved in a range of efforts. t. The BSA after the entry of America in World War I, begins home-front service in 1917 with the "Help win the war". The Scout motto, "Be prepared" was put into action. The Scouts persued many home-front activities. This included agricultural labor and vegetable gardens to hrelp produce food. Scouts planted "war gardens" with the logan, "Every Scout to feed a soldier". Scouts were mobilized to help with agricultural labor. They sold over 2 million war bonds. Another project was to collect peach pits which were used to make charcoal for gas masks. These patriotic prjects helped to make the Boy Scouts enormously popular.
Some of these groups began working on relif efforts before America entered the War. we note Camp Fire Girls in 1915 making bandages for wounded French soldiers.
The Junior Red Cross even enduced boys to join in the knitting campaign. Here we see boys at work in 1917 (figure 1).
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