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Documenting the Patch History of Black Eagle Lodge PART 2 By Ken Kittelberger
(A reprint of articles from the Deep Water Traveler, the publication of the Overseas Arrowmen Association.)

This is the second of two parts that document the Lodge Activity patches. Part 1 documented the Lodge Activity patches from 1965 through 1985. Black Eagle Lodge Activities have so far consisted solely of annual Spring or Fall Fellowship Conferences, regardless of the name actually given the activity. Beginning in 1986, an annual Lodge Banquet was held, at various places around the Lodge, all with a patch issued to the participants. The only other Lodge Activity, with a patch, was a periodically conducted Lodge Officer Training session.
Every year, I obtained the number of the patches issued, but as you will see, I failed to ask where the activity was held. If anyone knows the sites, please drop me an email so I can get the history straight.

1986 was celebrated as the 35th Anniversary of the Lodge. The first of 5 multi-part patches (between 1986 and 1997) was issued . A central yellow twill, cut edge, triangular patch, about 115 mm per side, was issued as the base patch for the next 3 activities, and was annotated with 1986 Lodge Fellowship and 35 Anniversary. It was first offered to the Lodge at the Spring Fellowship in June at Camp Freedom. A total of 392 pieces were received, which probably means that 400 were ordered. It also came with the first of 3 yellow twill V-shaped cut-edge chevrons, about 16x83mm (give or take 1 or 2 mm) that eventually fit around the perimeter of the base triangular patch, this one with the words SPRING FELLOWSHIP. In the Fall, probably in Oct, the second chevron with the words FALL FELLOWSHIP, was issued. It was probably held at Camp Freedom, but IĀ?m not positive. The first of the annual Lodge Banquets was held, again probably in Feb 1987. This writer does not know where it was held. This third chevron had the words LODGE BANQUET on it.

For the next several years, the 3 patches for the 3 Lodge Activities all had the base year annotated, even though the annual banquet was held after the beginning of the next year. Also, the patches for all 3 activities were ordered and received at once, about May or Jun.
In 1987, three separate 80mm diameter patches were issued. A pale green/turquoise twill background was issued (400) for the Spring Fellowship, probably at Camp Freedom.
The Fall Fellowship patch was a gold twill, and 436 were available for issue. I donĀ?t know where it was held, but it was probably in Oct.
A pale blue twill patch was issued (216) for the Winter Banquet. Again, the place is not known to this writer, and it was probably in Jan or Feb of 1988.

In 1988, the second of the multi-part patches were issued. This time, the Spring and Fall Fellowship patches were meant to be mounted (or sewn) one beneath the other, in order to depict the national OA Indian-head logo appearing as an extension of the flames rising from a log fire. All three patches were of gray twill. The Spring Fellowship patch, 78x80mm, featured the Indian head, and was probably issued in Jun (440), and the activity was probably held at Camp Freedom.
The Fall Fellowship patch (220 issued) was about 78x78mm, and featured the log fire and flames. It was probably held in Oct, but it is not known where this Fellowship was held.
The Lodge Banquet patch was 51x78mm, and featured a gold FDL, and a red arrow with WWW in gold letters, and 220 were issued. The patch is meant to be mounted below the other two. This writer does not know where it was held, but again probably in Jan or Feb 1989.

In 1989, the Lodge issued 3 separate patches again. All 3 were about 78x101mm, and each featured an OA member in Indian regalia standing near a smoking fire. The Spring Fellowship patch is blue twill, and 437 were available for issue in Jun, probably at Camp Freedom.
The Fall Fellowship patch (430 issued) was green twill. Again, the Fellowship was probably in Oct, at a place unknown.
The Lodge Banquet patch (220 issued) was purple twill. The banquet was probably held in Jan or Feb 1990, at an unknown site.

As mentioned earlier in Part 6 of this treatise, 1990 was the 75th Anniversary of the Order of the Arrow. To commemorate this, the Lodge issued a 123x152mm fully embroidered patch (J2).
The Lodge then issued 3 hat pins instead of patches for the 3 Lodge Activities. Each of the pins was identical to one of 3 designs appearing on the patch. The quantity of each pin is unknown. The Spring Fellowship 20x20mm pin depicted the Ā?75Ā? logo that was in the center of the J2 patch. Camp Freedom was probably the site of the Fellowship, probably in May.
The Fall Fellowship 17x26mm pin depicted the standing Indian that was on the lower right corner of the J2 patch. The site is unknown, but was probably Camp Freedom in Oct.
The Winter Banquet 16x25mm pin depicted the Black Eagle that was in the center of the J2 patch. The Banquet was probably in Jan or Feb 1991, at a place unknown to this writer.

In 1991, the third of the multi-part patches were issued. The Lodge went back to a base patch with 3 cut-edge chevron-style patches denoting the 3 activities. The 100x130mm fully embroidered, rolled edge, base patch was initially issued in May, and features an Indian paddling a canoe, with a peacepipe depicted below it. The Spring Fellowship cut-edge Ā?chevronĀ? indicates that Camp Freedom was the site. No quantities are known for any of the 4 pieces.
The Fall Fellowship, as indicated on the Ā?chevronĀ? was held at Camp Freedom, probably in Oct.
As indicated on the Winter Banquet Ā?chevronĀ?, it was held in Munich, again probably in Jan 1992.

In 1992, the fourth of the multi-part patches were issued, consisting of three fully embroidered, pie shaped wedges, 50x88mm. The Spring and Fall patches had an issue quantity of 150, and the Banquet patch had only 100, probably the lowest of any activity patch in between about 1970 and 1995. The Spring Fellowship segment featured two Indian faces, and the Fellowship probably was held in May at Camp Freedom.
The Fall Fellowship patch featured two different Indian faces, and was probably issued in Sept at Camp Freedom.
For the first time, the winter banquet was called a Winter Fellowship, and was probably held in Jan 1993, at Sembach Air Force Base, near Kaiserslautern.

In 1993, only one patch was issued: 100x102mm, square, fully embroidered, meant to be worn diagonally, and it was used for both the Spring Fellowhip in May and the Fall Fellowship in Sep. Both were held at Camp Freedom. A total of 440 were issued. It is believed that the decision for one patch came from the Council Office, since the Lodge got stuck with a quantity of the pie shapped 1992 Fall Fellowship and Winter Banquet segments and did not have enough Spring segments to go around.

In 1994, the Lodge went back to 3 separate patches for its activities. This time though, the first patch was for the Winter Banquet, held at the Rod and Gun Club at Kapaun Air Station near Kaiserslautern in Jan 1994. It was fully embroidered, 77x103mm. Probably 200 were ordered.
The Spring Fellowship was held in May, at Camp Freedom. A total of 500 fully embroidered patches, 90mm in diameter, were ordered.
The 1994 Fall Fellowship was also held at Camp Freedom in Sep, with 200 fully embroidered, 70x104mm issued.

In 1995, the Lodge again went with 3 separate fully embroidered patches, but this time with the 2 Fellowship patches picturing a representation of the bald eagle that made its appearance on the first 2 round patches and first 2 flaps from the early 1950Ā?s.
The Winter Banquet patch featured a bald eagle with nearly a caricature face. The Winter Banquet in Jan 1995 was held at Wiltz, Luxembourg, and 200 patches, 89mm in diameter, were issued.
The Spring Fellowship in May at Camp Freedom issued an 83x103mm patch, in unknown quantities.
The 1995 Fall Fellowship, again held at Camp Freedom initially issued 400 of the 104x104mm patch in Sep. For an unknown reason, an additional 200 patches were ordered.

In 1996, the Lodge selected a rather garish countenance (meant to be a humerous rendition)of an Eagle as the centerpiece of the Winter Banquet, 92mm diameter fully embroidered patch. The Banquet was held in Jan 1996 at DeKluis, Belgium, and only 100 patches were issued.
The 1996 Spring Fellowship in May at Camp Freedom, saw the issuance of 300 fully embroidered 88x100mm arrowhead patches. In Oct 1996, the Lodge held the first of several annual Lodge Officer Training (LOT) conferences. This first one was held at Mark Twain Village in Heidelberg. A total of 100 fully embroidered 76x103mm patches were ordered, and over the years, issued as needed.

In 1997, the fifth of the fully embroidered multi-part patches were issued, such that when the 3 were mounted (or shown) together, they depicted a 3-face totem pole. The Winter Banquet was held in Jan, in Stuttgart, and 200 of the 65x75mm patches were issued. This patch served as the bottom of the Ā?totem poleĀ?.
The Spring Fellowship in May 1997 was held at Camp Freedom, and 200 of the 64x70mm patches were issued, reflecting the severe downsizing of forces in Europe. This patch became the center of the Ā?totem poleĀ?.
The 1997 Fall Fellowship, held in Sep at Camp Freedom, again had only 200 of the 75x195mm patches. They served as the top of the Ā?totem poleĀ?. It also celebrated the 45th Anniversary of the Lodge.

In 1998, the Lodge again chose a garish eagleĀ?s head for the centerpiece of the 98mm diameter, fully embroidered Winter Banquet. The Banquet was held in a castle in Auerbach, between Heidelberg and Darmstadt, in Feb, and 200 patches were issued.
For the Spring Fellowship at Camp Freedom in May 1998, the Lodge selected a design with an eagle similar to that on the S15 Service Flap which made its appearance in 1997. A total of 300 fully embroidered, 100x106mm patches were issued.
The 1998 Fall Fellowship in Sep at Camp Freedom arrived with the sudden knowledge that no one had remembered to order a patch. The Camp Freedom Camp Director, Jack Gaylord saved the day, by offering his leftover stock (from an initial order of 200) of 77x98mm, blue twill & multicolored embroidered X8 patches from summer camp for the Fellowship attendees.

Although the 1999 Lodge Activity patches cannot be considered multi-part patches like the 5 earlier issues, the 3 fully embroidered, 96x102mm patches issued in 1999 are all the same neat shape, with similar designs within the center. The Winter Banquet in Feb held in Heidelberg saw 200 of the 96x102mm patches issued featuring a design of a Bavarian church below the Alps.
The 1999 Spring Fellowship in May at Camp Freedom had 300 of the similar patches available, this time featuring the totem pole and the dining hall at Freedom.
In Sep 1999, the Fall Fellowship returned to Camp Freedom, and issued 200 of the last of the similar patches, this time featuring a canoe on the Camp Freedom pond, in front of the shoreline forest.

In 2000 the lodge continued its trend by issuing 3 event patches. Although dissimilar in shape, they all featured a true black eagle on the patch. The Winter Banquet was held in Kaiserslautern in January. Competition with the Barbarossa District Klondike Derby which was held in Kandersteg, Switzerland the following week reduced the turn-out. The patch had a basic triangle shape, overlaid with a circle with the Black Eagle extending off the patch to the right.

The Spring Fellowship returned to the home of the Black Eagle Lodge, Camp Freedom, in Daupthe, Germany. This time the basic shape of the patch was oval showing the world on it. The Black Eagle extends off the patch to the left this time and includes dangling feathers on each side.

The final fellowship of the year again was held at Camp Freedom. This was to be the first fellowship for Professional Advisor Al Garver as he replaces Smiling Jack Gaylord in this position. Sr. DE Gaylord is somewhat of a fixture as he has been the Camp Director at Camp Freedom for more years than he cares to remember. This was preceeded by a period where he was just another one of us arrowmen in his prior life as an Air Force Officer. We fully expect to see him at all upcoming fellowships. Anyway, the patch for the fall fellowship is more round with a tab at the bottom. The Black Eagle's wingtips extend off both sides of the patch.

2001 did not start out as a good year as the Winter Banquet was cancelled due to lack of registrations. It was scheduled to be held by the Mantowagen Chapter in Belgium. Many competing activites with school, sports and church made this a hard choice for many brothers.

Dave Hulteen, who was the Lodge Advisor from May 1993 to January 1998, states that is was difficult getting the boys to submit designs for the various patchs. (He also states that the only thing harder was getting them to sing, and I can relate to that as well.) The 1992 pie-shaped patch segment patch was boy-designed. By default, Dave found it necessary to design many of the patches during his tenure (includig the "garish" ones, the arrowheads, the totem pole, the Chief's flap, the bald eagle NOAC flap and a few others) This completes the Lodge Activity patches as of the end of 2000. There are many unknowns in this part, so if you were there, or have copies of the Lodge newsletters or other materials that would fill in some of the unknowns, send me an email at: kenwdbdg@erols.com. I need your help.
The next Part of the history will cover the Chapter patches (NOT the Chapter Activity patches, which will be covered later). To see most of the Black Eagle Lodge and Chapter issues on the Internet, go to:

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