I thought this a good followup to the above post. A caption from a photo on eBay (a photo with content that wasn’t all that useful) had some interesting historical information. It highlights the fact the Utah (probably the Bountiful Jeep Posse) formed the country’s first Jeep Posse in March of 1946. One of the next earliest was in Lake County, California, started in 1948.
In 1960, spearheaded by the Bountiful Jeep Posse, the National Jeep Search and Rescue Association (NJSRA) was formed.
Two Utah senators (Orrin Hatch and Jake Garn) cosponsored a resolution to make June 11-June 17, 1979, “National Jeep Search and Rescue Association Week”.
As some point, the NJSRA dropped the “J”, becoming the National Search and Rescue Association, which still meets annually. The organization is based in St. Charles, Idaho.
Here’s the text in its entirety a nod to the 1964 gathering of the Association in Lakeview:
Lakeview (Special) — The Lake County Search and Rescue Unit will play host to the 1964 National Jeep Search and Rescue Association convention to be held at Lakeview on June 12, 13, and 14.
The Unit is one of the first “Jeep posses” organized in the United States.
While Utah claims the honor of the first in that field, Lake County was not far behind. Paul Ortwein started the local posse in 1948. He was the first president and served for 10 years.
The Organization now finds itself well recognized in both search and rescue work and in serving the community in other ways, such as Civil Defense, assistance with parades, and other public events.
As a side note, the 1963 Association gathering was in Arizona.
What happened to the N
