A local Boy Scout, along with his family and friends, received the thrill of a lifetime when Columbus native Vice President Mike Pence personally congratulated him on achieving an Eagle Scout ranking.
Pence, along with family and staff members, arrived at the Columbus Municipal Airport on Air Force Two Friday afternoon, for a private weekend visit.
But the vice president also included a meet and greet with Benjamin Beach, 18, Columbus, and his family and fellow Eagle Scouts at the airport just after arriving at about 3:30 p.m.
The meeting with Benjamin and his family was in response to a letter sent by Beach’s mother Phyllis Stahl, Columbus, in January with an invitation to Beach’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor, which is planned for this Sunday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.
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“Where’s this Ben Beach?” Pence said with a smile as he approached the Scouts group and their families who were gathered on the tarmac as the vice president arrived. “Where’s the mom who wrote the letter?”
After shaking Benjamin’s hand, the vice president noted that he was sorry he couldn’t make the official ceremony on Sunday, but since he was flying home to Columbus, he wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate him, and the other Eagle Scouts who attended.
As Pence walked down the line of Scouts, he greeted each one by asking their name and introducing each to his wife Karen. Along the way he found some connections to the Pence family among them, which generated some laughter among the Scouts.
In a surprise move, apparently even to the Secret Service there to protect the vice president, Pence motioned for the Scouts, their families and the media to follow him closer to the plane for more photos.
There, the vice president signed autographs and Scout neckerchiefs, as parents took photos and videos and even a few selfies with Air Force Two in the background. Although the vice president and his wife Karen could only stay a few minutes, the Scouts were invited to tour the plane after the vice president left the airport in a motorcade.
Stahl said she was thrilled and honored that the vice president chose to acknowledge Ben’s accomplishment in person.
While Friday’s meet and greet was a surprise, it was not the first time Ben and the vice president have met.
Ben first met Pence in November 2013 when the then-governor attended a commemoration of a bridge on State Road 46 between Nashville and Columbus for fallen Marine sergeant Jeremy McQueary who was killed in Afghanistan. Ben was a Young Marine at the time and his family took a picture of him with Pence at the ceremony.
Stahl included the photo on the invitation letter to Pence along with a current photo of Benjamin.
“You’re a lot bigger now,” Pence joked as he talked with Ben on Friday at the airport, referring to the 2013 photo.
The Eagle Scout said his project to attain the honor was to work with the Columbus Bike Co-op to scrap out bicycles and parts that were no longer useable and raise money for the co-op to provide bicycles for children in the community.
Ben is homeschooled and plans to attend Butler University with a dual major of motorsports engineering and environmental science, with the hopes of someday restoring classic cars and doing performance builds. He is hoping to begin work on restoring a 1977 Triumph Spitfire soon.
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Vice President Mike Pence is traveling to Columbia next week to demonstrate continued U.S. support for the opposition to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Pence’s office said he will deliver a speech on Monday in Bogota on the humanitarian and security crisis in neighboring Venezuela and U.S. effort to help get aid to the country.
Pence will meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque as well as Venezuelan families who have sought refuge outside the country.
— Source: The Associated Press
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The highest achievement or rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America program, the "Eagle Scout" designation was created more than 100 years ago.
Only about 4 percent of Boy Scouts achieve the rank, which can take years to achieve.
Scouts must earn at least 21 merit badges and complete an extensive service project.
For more on the Boy Scouts and the "Eagle Scout" designation, visit scouting.org.
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