the family moved about from bánáthy's birthplace of gyula, to makó, hungary, about southeast of budapest. he joined the regular scout program of the hungarian scout association and "csanad vezer" troop 92. during the 1930s, the troop had more than 50 scouts and 30 "small scouts". they held their monthly troop meetings on sunday in a large gimnazium and met weekly every saturday as a patrol. bánáthy reported: "our weekly patrol meetings focused on scoutcraft and scout spirit and guiding us to move through the various stages of advancement in rank."