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Researcher Seeking to Interview CCC Alumni
Janelle Taylor of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin has been interviewing CCC alumni and recording their memories since 2010. Anyone willing to be interviewed by her is asked to contact her at Janelle.taylor@tpwd.sate.tx.us or call 512-389-4665.

 

The CCC in Florida State Parks

O'Leno State Park, on the Santa Fe River north of Gainesville, was first developed by WPA and CCC workers in 1935-36. The suspension bridge built by the CCC still spans the river.
     At the beginning of the Great Depression, Florida's state park system existed only on paper. One of the original goals of the CCC was to develop state parks, and Florida began acquiring land and taking advantage of CCC funding and labor in 1934. In June 1934 the first CCC camp was established at what is now Highlands Hammock State Park. A total of nine state parks were largely developed by the CCC between 1934 and 1942.
     Highlands Hammock State Park has a museum depicting the history of the CCC in Florida state parks.
     More info about the CCC's role is available online here and here.

How to Get a CCC Alumnus' Service Record
     Janelle Taylor, a staff member of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, reports on getting a service record for an individual worker in the CCC:
     Go to the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy's website and click on the "History Center" tab at the left. There you will find a heading, “I want to find out where my Dad served?” which will give you information about how to request a service record.
     The process was free until two years ago and now costs up to $60. But once you get the service record you will know what CCC company number(s) the man served in, what camp location(s), what job(s) he held and his first and last days in the CCC. If he took any classes in the evenings, those will also be listed. With that information you can research even further.
     I have given this guidance to dozens and dozens of people. Only one man told me that he got a letter back that his record was unavailable. Poor guy—he was the actual CCCer and lost his service record in a flood or fire or something like that at his home years ago. He wanted the record to pass to his kids and was unable to get one. Everyone else seems to be able to get theirs, if they can afford it. A few have told me they cannot pay the fee (two years ago the records were transferred to the National Archives and they charge for their services.).

NACCCA now Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy
     According to our board member, Walter Atwood, who is also the President of NACCCA, the NACCCA members have voted to approve the merger of their organization with the Camp Roosevelt Legacy Foundation. The new constitution, bylaws and policies are being promulgated and should be finalized soon. Walter will be joined by Joan Sharpe of Virginia, NACCCA member and Director of the Camp Roosevelt Legacy Foundation group, to work out all the details and administer the new organization along with the new Steering Committee. This merger was felt necessary due to the fact that the membership in NACCCA is decreasing due to the age of its members. Joan can be reached at P.O. Box 341, Edinburg, VA 22824. 540-984-8735 or ccc@ccclegacy.org.
     The foundation for a new building in Virginia to house the newly merged organization has been laid and the rafters are in place. Completion is expected by the fall. Most of the organization's archives have been moved to the Smithsonian so the CCC's are "on the move" from their long time home in Illinois to be closer to DC where more alumni and/or their families will have more opportunities to visit and learn about the history of the CCC.
     The 2007 NACCCA annual reunion is scheduled to be held Sept. 27-29 in Cumberland Falls, KY. This will be a memorable event since they will be a new group by that time.

 

Atwood Receives Award
     Earlier this year, Walker was honored with the Builder's Award given by Camp Roosevelt CCC Legacy Foundation. This special award is given to individuals in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the preservation of the CCC heritage. Walker also joined other NNDPA board members at Warm Springs, GA for the unveiling of the new FDR Statue there in the state park and for the annual commemoration on April 12 of his death there in Warm Springs. One group of high school students from the area were impressed to get to talk to a real CCC member. For those of you who don't know, after the CCC and his military service, Walker had a long career as a polygraph specialist and worked in the Pentagon for a number of years and traveling internationally during his employment. He is now "retired" in Columbia, SC, still traveling but now for the CCC alumni.

 

Another CCC "LOOK and ACT ALIKE" Group
     There are those who keep saying we need the CCC again. If you are not aware there is even another younger CCC similar organization in the country and it is called The Corps Network. They are not the same group that merged with the CCC alumni but are also carrying out the service and conservation activities the CCC were known for. They are based in Washington, DC and have 100+ groups that have been engaging 23,000 young people who in turn complete 13+ million hours of service end conservation in 41 states. Pretty impressive. They recently produced a PBS documentary called "A Generation of Change: Strengthening America through Service and Conservation." Atwood is featured in this also.

 


CCC memorabilia of Valentine Valdez, NM-CCC alumni

CCC alumni in NM State Capitol with Youth Conservation Corps youth from Bernalillo, NM Early Corpsmen, Current Corpsmen and women.
NM CCC Alumni gather around the new CCC Worker Statue at NM State Capitol.


This poem was written by Vincent G. DeNunzio, who was in the CCC in Worland, Wyoming, in 1938-40 with Walter Atwood, one of our NNDPA board members. DeNunzio wrote it to commemorate the retirement of Walter as the “Great Chief” of our great nation’s CCC Alumni. Walter, despite his retirement, still travels around the country to statewide and national CCC gatherings and sent this to me for his offering to be included in the e-newsletter.

What was  the CCC?
Beautify, enhance our parklands.
Construct bridges over streams.
Grant access to Nature’s wonders.
CCC fulfilled the dream.

Rough and ready, hale and hearty,
tasks awaiting in the West.
Daring to cross their manhood threshold;
Eager crews all passed the test.

Wyoming’s range needs fencing
Telling ranchers where to graze.
The Chapters end for Wild West range wars.
D.C.’s BLM will right their ways.

The problem: make fence posts last forever.
Creosote means decay-free.
But who to man the molten vats of tar?
Assignment: CCC

Four parallel strands of barb-wire,
Stapled to cedar poles,
Every CCC-cut fencepost
Planted steadfast, in CCC-dug holes.

Rip-wrapping dams to stem the flows
In grazing raid lands;
Where cattle herds did quench their thirst,
CCC boys left their brands.

Township and Range mark Western maps
Where pastured-cattle graze.
Before allotments can be made,
Pre-req: CCC surveys.

The raging fire at DuBois,
Our fight corralled the blaze;
10,000 acres picked and treanched,
Exhausting three full days.

Each wondrous new adventure
Awakened restless souls;
A welcome passage into manhood,
Tempering metal in the coals.

They paid us thirty bucks a month;
Twenty-five went home to Mom.
Five left for us for fun and games;
No surplus wealth therefrom.

Not only peace and solitude
Made up our frontier home:
Coyotes, rattler, antelope
Shared where the buffalo roam.

God cast some list of characters
For His “C’s” Wyoming show:
Eagles, magpies, hawks flew up above
While sage hens, rabbits, prairie-dogs…all played the scene below.

Good Lord would set His nightfall stage,
Empty prairie’s loneliest scene;
Chuck-wagon, dog and saddle-horse,
Sheepherder’s flock bedded down serene.

My thanks to what was the C.C.C.
--not the wealth I there amassed.
The treasured gift of early youth
Rendered me a valued past.