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To honor
the veterans of WWII is to honor Americans from all walks of life,
backgrounds, experiences and locations.
Their stories tell the story of
America. The soldier has a common
image; and yet, there is a segment of WWII veterans that were inducted
into the rigid military environment already armed with experiences
that would put them ahead of the game.
That experience was the Civilian Conservation
Corps.
The four presidential terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt were plagued with
one national crisis after another. As he readied himself for his first
term, America
was in the grip of the Great Depression, unemployment was reaching
25%, and socialist factions were gaining popularity.
Amid the social and economic unrest, the American public was
becoming disgruntled about their prospects for the future. In
1932 as FDR’s campaign song, “Happy Days are Here Again”, sang
out across the nation the hope of citizens was lifted to new heights
and he was elected in a landslide victory over Herbert Hoover. 
Inaugurated on
March 4, 1933, America’s 32nd Commander and Chief was talking
the helm of a troubled land. Unemployment
ravaged the ranks of the old, the handicapped, the uneducated and the
young. Available jobs went
to the breadwinner and in many cases those wages were not adequate to
support the family. President
Roosevelt was aware that he needed to get people back to work.
Roosevelt
acted quickly. On March
21, the President sent a message to the 73rd congress:
“I propose to create a civilian conservation corps to be used
in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining
itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and
similar projects. More
important, however, than material gains, will be the moral and
spiritual value of such work.”
 For ten days, Congress worked diligently and on
March 31, 1933
, the Emergency Conservation Work legislation was signed.
It became commonly referred to as the Civilian Conservation
Corps. On April 5, Robert
Fechner, an organized labor leader, was named by executive order as
the Executive Director. The
President named the Secretaries of War, Agriculture, Interior, and
Labor as his advisory council. Determined to save
America’s youth from the “moral dry rot” that accompanied excessive
unemployment he set about to save two of the nation’s most valuable
nature resources: men and
land. 
The plan
was straight forward: The
War Department would transport, feed, clothe, shelter, educate and
provide health services. The
Department of Agriculture and Interior developed natural resource
improvement projects. The
Department of Labor identified those on relief and the unemployed.
The War
Department was the only entity with the infrastructure to provide
logistics for such a large body of men and the transport of enrollees
amounted to the largest peace-time movement of people recorded in America
to that date. Eventually,
this plan placed the responsibility of millions of young men within
the care of the military system.
April 7, 1933
marked the first day of recruitment for the young enrollees of
Roosevelt’s Tree Army and Henry Rich from
Alexandria
,VA, became recognized as America's first CCC
Enrollee. On April 17, Rich was among the first contingent of
CCC enrollees to slog through the mud into an open clearing in the George
Washington
National Forest. The nation’s first CCC
camp, Camp Roosevelt NF-1 was established.
CCC camps were manned with approximately 200 people that included
enrollees, military leadership and the conservation project staff.
The enrollee requirements were simple: unemployed, unmarried,
healthy and between the ages of 17 – 25.
Their youthful appearance soon gave way to the nickname of
“CCC Boys” which is still commonly used today.
 The CCC
development plan called for 250,000 men to be enrolled by July 1933.
The military logistics system made this possible and was the
nucleus of the CCC program. After
WW I, the military recognized a need to segment the nation into the
nine corps of the Army. Each
corps was commanded by a General officer and the CCC fell into
alignment with this military structure.
From the General Officer at the corps level to the
Camp
Commander, the military was in charge except during the eight hour work day
which was spent on natural resource conservation projects. 
As the
program matured, the resemblance of the military lifestyle developed a
cadre of men who were accustomed to the multicultural communal living
arrangements that mimicked the military environment.
From the very beginning, CCC boys began and ended their day
with reveille and retreat, slept in military tents or barracks, wore
WWI surplus military clothing, ate in the mess hall, and the military
maintained all records and pay responsibilities.
The daily routine associated with personal hygiene, laundry,
inspections, and other types of self improvement was a change for many
unaccustomed to indoor plumbing and the discipline necessary for
positive personal deportment. The Camp Commander
was the highest authority.
 Many camp
duties reflected the military procedure.
The company clerk who worked for the Camp
Commander
kept the camp records and was accustomed to official forms and
process. The cooks who
worked under the Mess Sergeant became familiar with the military
culinary procedure for preparation, food safety, ordering and storage.
Records indicate that 45,000 truck drivers were trained
annually. Knowing
how to drive a truck safely, the motor pool system, truck maintenance
and mechanics, was a favorite position within the camp but also
provided
a skill to the CCC enrollee as he moved into the private sector or
into the military. 
Leader
positions in the CCC were many times compared to the rank of Sergeant
and the CCC employee could move laterally into the military system.
Generally speaking, CCC enrollees achieved rank earlier and
many made permanent careers in the military or the conservation
agencies. These opportunities might never have come to pass without
the stint in the CCC.
Regular and reserve Officers of all branches of service were pulled into the CCC
program. The CCC
leadership role developed practical experiences which the reserve officer
normally would not have received during peace-time.
Many highly decorated military leaders of WWII were CCC Camp
Commanders. Second
Lieutenant William Train who was present at Camp
Roosevelt
on
April 17, 1933
finished his military career as Lieutenant General Train.
Records indicate that there were mixed feelings among some
reserve officers about serving on active duty in a CCC Camp.
After all, the CCC enrollees were not soldiers and the pomp and
circumstance associated with the officer corps was not available in
remote rural communities.
As
America
anxiously watched the war in
Europe
escalate, President Roosevelt declared a limited national emergency.
In 1940 the National Defense Act changed the educational policies.
National Defense Training Program was taught through local
schools and CCC enrollees were allowed to enroll.
Training included many military based skills such as Morse
code, radio operation and maintenance, welding, aircraft maintenance,
auto mechanics, and clerk-typing.
Other training that was an asset to the national defense system
was also available. Camps
were placed on military bases and enrollees built airfields,
ammunition ranges, storage areas, and many other kinds of military
buildings. By the end of
the CCC in 1942, it was less involved in conservation and almost
entirely a civil defense organization.
Today
scholars still question the success of New Deal programs and their
lasting affect on the stability of the American economy.
The
one intangible benefit produced by the CCC and other New Deal programs
was hope. Hope that
comforted the economically depressed and hope that gave people courage
to wish for something better to take root as America
moved into a great
time of trial - the second World War.
Uncle Sam and the CCC
Article
from the WWII Journal - WWII Remembrance
Weekend, 2006
by
-- Joan Sharpe
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