Slowly, page by page, the father and son looked through the photo album. The collective memories filled the room as stories were told. The book is a legacy of honor and pride. The pictures and the stories encompass the lives of the men who went before, those who blazed a trail of service.
Charles and Jake Hermanns have hundreds of stories to tell. They are the stories of Oliver Hermanns, the patriarch of the family. They are the stories of Ted and Philip and Marvin Hermanns, the second generation. They are the stories of Charles and his brothers, Phil and Jeff Hermanns, the third generation. And they are the stories of Jake and his cousin Duncan Hermanns, the fourth generation. Four generations of Hermanns men with stories of service, skills and honor. Four generations of Hermanns, all Eagle Scouts with Boy Scouts of America.
The Eagle Scout is the highest honor in Boy Scouts. Only 5 percent of young men who join Boy Scout troops will ever earn the distinction. A performance-based achievement, the Eagle Scout rank indicates a Scout’s complete dedication to the principles of scouting: character development, citizenship training and personal fitness.
“It is a long road to get to Eagle Scout,” Charles, 41, said. “It takes a lot of hard work, but along the way you learn so many important skills. It is the culmination of everything in scouting.”
The Hermanns family’s involvement with Boy Scouts began nearly a century ago, when Oliver joined a troop in 1920, just 10 years after the group was founded in the United States. Oliver quickly grew enamored with scouting but stopped shortly after getting married. Once his oldest son, Ted, joined the Boy Scouts, Oliver started scouting again. The two earned their Eagle Scout rank together in 1948. They were quickly followed by Ted’s brothers, Philip in 1950 and Marvin in 1958.
When Marvin, 71, began a family of his own, it followed without question that his boys, Charles, Phil and Jeff, would be Scouts. By that time, Marvin was a scout master, leading his own Scout troops, including those his sons were a part of.
“I started through Cub Scouts and then came into Boy Scouts,” Charles said. “I fell in love with the outdoors and the backpacking and the camping, just the outdoors in general. It became important to me, following the family tradition. For me, it was all about wanting to continue as a leader, like my dad did.”
Marvin was never easy on his boys as they worked through the ranks of scouting. He couldn’t let up on them. He knew it was his duty to train them to be the same caliber of Scout his father was and he and his brothers were.
“I was harder on them by far than any other boys I worked with,” Marvin said. “I had to be. There couldn’t be any suspicion I was making it easy for them. I grilled them on their merit badges until they knew it upside down.”
It was that instruction that served his sons well, not only in scouting but in life.
Charles is convinced it was the skills he learn in scouting and the constant pressure to master the various subject areas that saved his life on a fateful hunting trip.
“When I was 16, I actually had an accident where I cut my left hand off,” Charles said. “If it wasn’t for the knowledge and the training that my dad has been on me so hard about learning, I would have bled to death. That was a pivotal point in my life, and I owe it to scouting.”
Charles earned his Eagle Scout badge in 1988 with Cortez Troop 522. It is the same troop Jake belongs to, the troop Marvin started in 1978. It is the troop Jake will receive his Eagle Scout badge from tonight.
Jake started scouting when he was 7 years old. He said it was always something he wanted to do and never felt pressure to excel, but never doubted that he would.
“I wanted to be a leader, like my dad and my grandpa,” Jake said. “I want to carry on the tradition and inspire other young people to reach the achievement of Eagle Scout.”
The Hermanns pride themselves on their “old school” approach to scouting. They value the basics of survival skills, outdoors skills, lifesaving skills, and manners. They understand the concept of hard work and view their decorated Boy Scout sashes as much more than simple pieces of fabric.
“It is so much more than just a badge,” Jake said. “So much is behind everything you do in Boy Scouts. You are learning about life and how to live. They are skills you will take with you everywhere you go.”
As his grandfather pushed his father and uncles, Jake says Charles and Marvin both worked hard to make sure he truly earned each of his 35 badges.
“They pushed me,” he said. “I had to do everything 100 times more than others to earn my badges. But it was worth it in the end.”
Charles, a scout master with Troop 522, agreed.
“It is all about being old school,” he said. “I did ride him hard, like my dad rode me hard. But fathers do that — they push their boys to do better.”
Marvin, who has led more than 800 Scouts in his years as a scout master, said there is no end to his pride in his sons and his two Eagle Scout grandsons.
“It means the world to me that they are continuing the tradition of staying in Scouts and trying to get the highest honor,” he said. “It means the world.”
Jake intends to continue the tradition when he begins a family one day, because he values the life scouting has given him. The young man much prefers scouting activities to the more common teenage pursuits. He does not own a cell phone and until recently didn’t have a Facebook account.
“A friend of mine set one up for me,” Jake said, referring to the popular social media website. “I don’t know how to use it. I doubt I ever will.”
For the Hermanns, social media isn’t very important. Those are not the skills that will shape your character. Scouting has always been the answer for the family, one of the few fourth-generation scouting families in the country, Charles said.
“There is a lot to scouting, but in the end, it is all what a scout takes away from it,” he said. “You can go through all the work and receive a medal and for a lot it is just a medal. But for us there is more meaning behind it. It is a character, it is a life.”
Reach Kimberly Benedict at [email protected].
