| Civilian
Conservation Corps service recalled 75 years
The Great
Depression program prepared participants for life, they say.
April 25, 2008
By Susan M. Cover Blethen, ME
As part of
a 75th anniversary celebration of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Walter Sekula
of Connecticut, right, talks about meeting
President Franklin Roosevelt while serving in the CCC in
New York.
CCC PROJECTS IN MAINE
included
Capitol
Park
and Togus VA Medical Center, planting trees in Camden
Hills
State Park
and Mount
Blue
State Park, building roads and trails in
Acadia
National Park, and constructing roads and
bridges.
AUGUSTA
— At age 17, Thomas Desjardins joined the
Civilian Conservation Corps so he could help his family in Lewiston. His
mother was a widow, and Desjardins needed a job to help her pay the bills. It
was 1938. "You tried to do everything you could to help your family during
the Great Depression," he said Thursday at a ceremony marking the 75th
anniversary of the corps.
About
20 people gathered near a statue outside the Maine
State
Museum
to honor those who served in the
corps, a national program from 1933 to 1942 that helped put young men
to work during the Depression.
In
Maine, more than 17,000 men served in the
corps. They were paid $30 a month, of which $25 went directly to their
families. The corps, which preceded the Works Progress Administration,
focused on forests, parks, roads and trails.
Locally, they helped build the lower
portion of
Capitol
Park
and planted trees there, along with
tree planting at the Togus VA Medical Center.
State Historian Earle Shettleworth said
the conservation corps was part of the first 100 days of the Franklin
Delano Roosevelt administration, during which "dozens and
dozens" of laws were enacted to help the country recover from the
Depression.
"It put young men back to work and
gave them valuable skills," he said. "In many ways, it gave
young men the skills to face the next challenge -- World War II."
Desjardins, 87, said his Civilian
Conservation Corps assignment took him to
Bar Harbor
, where he built roads and scenic
outlooks for tourists. They planted trees and worked to keep gypsy
moths from spreading into town from the Rockefeller estate, he said.
"Most of us will tell you the reason
we're still alive is we grew up in the conservation corps and
developed a good physical lifestyle," he said.
And
from there, he went into the Army during the war, and served in
Africa,
Sicily,
Italy,
France, Germany
and
Austria.
Philip J. Gouzie, 85, president of the
Maine
chapter of the national
conservation corps association, said he, too, signed up for the
Civilian Conservation Corps at age 17.
He
was sent to the Bridgton area, where he worked on the
Appalachian Trail
,
Sebago
Lake
State Park
and Shawnee
Peak
.
"We took care of the forests,"
he said. "The forests were in such bad shape due to
neglect."
Gouzie, who now lives in
South Portland, was one of eight children who
needed to help out the family.
"I took away that life is hard, but
you can help yourself and help your family by working hard," said
Gouzie, who went on to serve in the war as a member of the Navy
submarine force.
Copyright ©
2008 Blethen
Maine
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