Sherman L. Kiser
Sherman L. Kiser (1889–1974) was a US Army officer. He is famous in Philippine Boy Scouting history as the founder of the defunct Lorillard Spencer Troop, an early Boy Scout Troop in the Philippines, and is mentioned in every account of Philippine Boy Scouts history.
The Lorillard Spencer Troop
On 15 November 1914, 2nd Lieutenant Sherman Kiser, then a young US Army artillery officer with the Philippine Scouts at Pettit Barracks in Zamboanga City, organised the Lorillard Spencer Troop, named after Lorillard Suydam Spencer (1883-1939),[1] member of the Officers of the National Council and Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (Cf: Scouting, Vol. I, No. 1, April 15, 1913, page 4), indirectly honoring Lorillard's mother Caroline Suydam Berryman Spencer, a wealthy widow who worked as a missionary on Mindanáo and provided money for the troop's Boy Scout uniforms. (Cf: The Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, December 5, 1913.)
In 1915 the Boy Scouts of America magazine Boys' Life, Vol. V, No. 6, August 1915, page 21, reported: "Lieut. Kiser of the Philippine scouts in the American army has organized a troop of boy scouts in the town of Zamboango. The boys are keenly interested in scouting and put the scout law into action daily. They have cleaned up their village and have also taken hikes. These Moro scouts are the first boys of their race to show kindness to animals."
Military career
Kiser, a career officer in the US Army (not the US Navy as commonly thought) went on to serve at the Battle of Bud Bagsak under Gen. John Joseph Pershing. In 1914 to early 1915, he was stationed at Augur Barracks on Jolo and Pettit Barracks in Zamboanga City. In 1915 to early 1916 he was assigned to coastal defenses (Manila, Subic Bay, Corregidor) and Camp Eldridge in Laguna. In middle 1916 he was back on Mindanáo at Ludlow Barracks. On 19 May 1917 he got promoted as first lieutenant. In 1929 he graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College.
As an artillery battalion commander in WW1, he received decorations from the USA and France.
On 14 March 1946, the 14th Major Port, the US Army unit Col. Kiser served as Port Commander, was honored by the Mayor and burghers of the Borough of Southampton in England – allowing them to march through the town "with bayonets fixed, drums beating, and colours flying" – for outstanding achievement in the operation of the Port of Southampton during WW2 and on D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Later, Col. Kiser was also honored as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his WW2 service.
Author
After retirement, Kiser authored The American Concept of Leadership and Americanism in Action. In 1955 he gifted a copy of The American Concept of Leadership, personally inscribed to US Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson (later the President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Bronze Wolf awardee).
Legacy
Photographs of Kiser in WW2 are included in the Hack Miller Photograph Collection at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, Salt Lake City. (Mormon journalist Harold G. "Hack" Miller of Deseret News had served in WW2 under Kiser.) Presumably, Kiser's photographs of the Lorillard Spencer Troop (maintained in his scrapbook) would be in the possession of his familial descendants.
Five of the surviving members of the Lorillard Spencer Troop were guests at the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Golden Jubilee Jamboree in 1973.[2]
In 2014, the Lorillard Spencer Troop centennial was celebrated with a "Philippine Scouting Centennial Jamboree" in three venues: Marikina City (4–8 Nov), Cebu City (7–11 Nov), and Zamboanga City (8–12 Nov).
References
Bibliography
- Boy Scout Book, Volume 1, Manila: Boy Scouts of the Philippines, 1972.
- Diamond Jubilee Yearbook, Manila: Boy Scouts of the Philippines. ISBN 978-971-91769-0-9
- Kiser, Sherman, The American Concept of Leadership, New York: Pageant, 1954, 1955 ; Literary Licensing, 2012. Digitised March 2006. ISBN 9781258381875.
- Kiser, Sherman, Americanism in Action: the way to economic and political stability, New York: Exposition, 1964. Digitized May 2011. ASIN: B0007E4UTQ