The Inspiration of Scouting

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When Loannie heard I was going to Danang she said: "Good, I want you to lookup my friend Professor Hung." She said he was a Scout. I told her I was an Eagle Scout and she was ecstatic. So, I wasn't in Danang long when I got a message on my phone: "Meet me for dinner a 6:00PM at my house."

It was a long journey to the Professors house as Danang is a huge city. I am just getting to know Danang and I have been here three times.

I wondered if I was at the right place because his "house" looked like a restaurant to me. Indeed it was, like a lot of Vietnamese they run a business out of their house frntage and live in the back.

What I stepped into was something that would have sent shivers of excitement to Charles Sherman in Larned Kansas. Charles is a former Scout Leader amd Curator of the Central Scout Museum in Larned Kansas, probably the largest collection of Scout memorabilia in the United States.

Professor Hung's living room was all scouting. Even his motorbikes sported the scout insignia. I felt like a pretty puny Eagle Scout in his presence.

He asked me what my scout name was. I had no idea, if I had ever had one I sure forgot. He said his was a bear. All his family are bears he said with pride.

If you lookup "scouting in Vietnam" on the internet you will read that scouting is a clandestine operation in Vietnam. It is illegal but yet operates openly. I get a funny feeling the Cong An (Police) will bust in at any time. Then I look at the photos and see that they aren't operating out of caves. Go figure.

Professor hung is a fifty's athletic looking man with a physic of someone around 30. He teaches Taekwondo at every level.

He lives and breaths scouting. His whole family is into scouting. The most important part of the scout oath is Professor Hung is: "On my honor I will do my duty to God....

We had a wonderful meal which included traditional Vietnamese fare but also a hamburger his wife brought me from her restaurant. It was a no cloistral hamburger without any meat. It had some crunchy stuff inside. It was delicious.

He gave me a scout program book for the Central States Scout Museum. I ask for some other memorabilia but he said he didn't believe in it. I think we lost something in the traslation but that was his answer. Sorry Charles.

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Photos

Baden Powell
Founder of the Boy Scout Movement in the world. One of the three most admired men of Winston Churchill.

Father and Son
Proud Scouts.

The book
Where he got his Scout Bear name

Scouts
Notice the official Boy Scout Uniforms

The Professor's family
Daughter, Father, Mother and Son. All Scouts.

The Painting that got his son a job.
This painting or photograph so intriqed the Press Club of Hanoi that they gave his son an interview and hired him.

Comments

[Loannie]

Scout Spirit
Hi uncle Kent. I'm so happy to hear that you met Professor Hung. Please say hello and give them a warm hug from me to his family. I'm not a Scout right now. Just wondering is it possible for me to be the first Scout in Hanoi? How to do that? ...Spread your wings to discover that place, "Eagle" Scout :-) By the way Hanoi is in springtime, flowers are blooming beautifully and my heart is also blooming with joy when I hear about you. Take care. Loannie.

[Camilla Converse Haley]

Scouting
Our son Doug is an Eagle Scout (age 42 now), and our two grandsons ages 14 and 12 are involved in scouting. I plan to share your recent travelblog with them. Ir was certainly a nice experience for you to meet Professor Hung. Camilla

[mike meyer]

Boy Scouts
Kent, I met a boy scout in Hoi An back in 1997. He was an offical licensed guide there and was wearing a Boy Scout tie tack. He immediately gave me the boy scout handshake. Then he took me to the "Scout Cafe", it was the formewr headquarters for the Boy Scouts but they changed the name so the government would not shut it down. I returned to the Furama Hotel 2 months later and brought him a box filled with scout goodies, eagle belt buckle, Kansas City District Patch, and a few other scout momentoes. A belt. He told me he lost his scout belt during the end of the war in 75 using it as a tournaquet on a medavac helicopter. I was never able to connect to him but i am sure the Scoutmaster would know him. Give him my best, i was a Scout leader for 10 years as both of my boys are Eagle Scouts. Great story. Have you been working with Mark Conroy of EMW? I met him in 1995 with doctor Dung and helped him a number of years with my organization UPLIFT International. I donated free shipping for supplies with my free account and support of FedEx. They set up a dental office in DaNang near Marble Mountain. Let me know how things go, Mike Meyer