Saturday, August 01, 2026
The Rarest Bird on the Water: National Eagle Scout Day and the Mariners It Made
The Rarest Bird on the Water: National Eagle Scout Day and the Mariners It Made August 1 is National Eagle Scout Day — a salute to the rarest rank in American Scouting, first earned by a seventeen-year-old back in 1912. It is also, quietly, a maritime holiday: a remarkable share of the young people who pinned on that eagle went on to command warships, crew tall ships, and — on one famous occasion — fly to the Moon and steer a crippled spacecraft safely home. Read this and more on our website