On March 12, 1962, the Canal Zone honored the Girls Scouts of America (GSA) on the date of the organization's Silver Jubilee with a 4-cent commemorative stamp (Scott 156). The GSA had long offered its services in the Canal Zone, and it was hoped that the stamp would generate the same enthusiasm as the Boy Scout stamp had on its Silver Jubilee two years earlier. The GSA stamp's focal point is a Girl Scout badge against a tropical setting at the girls' campground, known as 'Camp Chagres'. The 4-cent denomination was intended for use on first-class boat mail letters, and it was widely used in this capacity.
There were some 640,000 GSA stamps received, many of which were used on the more than 55,000 first day covers processed that day. Apparently all were sold as there are no records of any being destroyed at a later date.
Depicted as the illustration for this stamp is an attractive but non-first day cover with the GSA stamp marking the Dixiepex Philatelic Exposition. Dixiepex must have had a scouting theme and the Canal Zone Postal Service played a role in its activities, as demonstrated by this very scarce commemorative cover seemingly prepared to mark the occasion.
