CCC Reunions and Meetings


Edinburg, VA - - May 17th
Dedication of CCC Statue & Commemorative Wall and a Tree Planting


Matthew Dellinger, Boy Scout and grandson of two CCC boys, lead the group in Pledging Allegiance to the Flag.
Merlene Mazyck, National Director of AmeriCorps and volunteers, finish planting the commemorative tree - a great symbol for the boys who planted over 3 billion trees.




William Miller and Walter Atwood unveil THE STATUE.



Sally Prouty, President of the Corps Network, explains what is happening with the Conservation Corps today.
From left to right:     Raymond Daugherty - Camp Hardy, WV ; Landon Walker - VA ; Hal Bush - Camp Superintendent Allegheny National Forest, PA ; William Miller - Camp Roosevelt, VA ; Everette Leake - Camp Big Meadows, VA ; Walter Atwood - WY & ID ; CCC Statue ; George Smith ; Keith "Junior" Paugh - Western MD ; Lawrence Fowler (seated) - IN ; Joe DeCenzo - Camp Sligo, PA ; Lawrence McGlynn - Skyline Drive, VA ; Foy Hawks - VA ; Charles Varro - Camp Allegheny National Forest-1, PA ; Henry Sulima - IL ; Karl Landstrom - Army Commander Camp Moro, OR.
The Commemorative Wall with a garage relocated from Camp Roosevelt in the upper right.


USDA, Washington, DC

Doug Helms, Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) Senior Historian, gave a nice overview about the role the Soil Conservation Service had within the CCC program.   Doug had many pictures of camp life, the kinds of work the boys did, and how the work was accomplished.   He also explained how the program effected different cultures.   There was a standing room only crowd with a reception following the presentation.


Prince William Forest Park, VA
Second Annual CCC Member Appreciaton Day    March 29, 2008

Seven men that worked in the CCC attended.   From left to right are:
Vernon Hill - 4 forestry camps in the UP of Michigan
Norman Claiborne - helped build Seashore State Park (now First Landing)
Walter Patrick - SCS supervised Camp Pine Top in Amelia County, VA
Karl Landstrom (99) - Army Officer in charge of Camp Moro, OR
Frank Kuhn - Jackhammer operator turned sign painter at Camp Lost Creek, Norton, VA
Larry McGlynn - a camp near Aberdeen, MD and NP-10 Shenandoah National Park, VA
and Larry Baird not pictured.


       Topeka, KS - March 19, 2008

Present to witness Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius place her signature on a proclamation designating March 31 as Civilian Conservation Corps Recognition Day were from left: Roweena Plett, Marilyn Hamler, Marie Waltman, Feebie Holdeman. Bill Holdeman, Dwight Beckham, Helen Beckham, Irene McBurney and Cleland McBurney.

Bill Holdeman, directly behind Governor Sebelius was enrolled in the CCC at age 16 (with parents permission) and served as a heavy equipment operator building roads in the mountains of Oregon.

Cleland McBurney, extreme right is the son of Ed McBurney who was engineer of the dam at Marion, Crawford, Reading, Lone Star and Meade lakes.



September 22, 2007    Edinburg, VA
Ole' Time Festival    
Two 'CCC boys', Everette Leake and Clifford Sine, rode in the festival's parade.


Camp Roosevelt Annual Reunion - - Sept 9, 2007
The meeting was held on the grounds where the new Forest Service building is located in Edinburg, VA.   At the end of the meeting a tour of the new building was enjoyed by the group.   It was especially interesting because 'green' technology was extensively being designed into the facilities.

Matthew Dellinger, great-grandson of two CCC boys - Cecil Mauck of Camp Roosevelt and Gilbert Harris of Grottos, talked about a Boy Scout project that he will be leading to enhance the Camp Roosevelt area.   The work will clear the area of brush, outline pathways where the boys would have walked between the buildings, etc.

Seven CCC boys were in attendance.   They were (Left to Right) Everette Leake, Clifford Sine, John Cornwall, Curtis Stallard, and William Miller.   Not pictured are Peter Humenuk and Hal Bush.


Northern Virginia Chapter 13 Annual Picnic June 9, 2007
This meeting was held at Mike's Italian Restaurant in Alexandria, VA with 12 people attending including five CCC boys: (left to right) Vernon Hill, Larry Baird, Karl Landstrom, Charlie Brewer, and Owen Davis.


1st Anniversary of VA CCC Member Appreciation Day - March 31, 2007.
Ninty-six people interested in the legacy of the CCC met at the Creekside Plain and Fancy Restaurant in Edinburg, VA to celebrate the FIRST anniversary of Virginia setting aside March 31st as CCC Member Appreciation Day.   The 'boys' that attended were Walter Atwood, Hal Bush, Larry McGlynn, Clifford Sine, Norman Turner, and Charles Varro.   Jonathan Folz, the Great-Grandson of LEM C.E. Thompson who helped build many of the buildings at Camp Roosevelt attended.   James R. Wilkins, Jr., son of James R. Wilkins Sr. who was Superintendent at Camp Roosevelt attended.
Hostess for the evening was President of Camp Roosevelt CCC Legacy Foundation, Joan Sharpe.

Pastor William Fisher (pictured to the left), son of William A. Fisher a Camp Roosevelt CCC boy, gave the Invocation.

Aaron Shapiro, Chief Historian of USDA Forest Service, was the keynote speaker.


Norman Turner (left)
Camp Roosevelt
and
Larry McGlynn (right)
Shenandoah National Park Camp
Charles Varro (left)
Company 318
in both Marienville
and Harrisburg, PA

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Clifford Sine (right)
Camp #3359
F-25
Bath, VA
(to the left)
Walter Atwood, President of NACCCA receives Builder's Award from Joan Sharpe.
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(to the right)
Norma Burnette (daughter of the very first CCC enrollee, Henry Rich) visits with Hal Bush.


Shenandoah National Park Reunion     Sept 30 - Oct 1 2006
This was the 73rd reunion of the Shenandoah National Park CCC boys.
In the fall of 1933 when the first boys were leaving the CCC, all the camps got together and had a big party for those leaving and there has been a reunion every year since.   This years reunion was held in the Conference Center at Skyland with about 20 CCC boys in attendance.
The highlight of this years reunion was the dedication of the bronze statue of "Iron Mike" in front of the Harry F. Byrd, Sr. visitor center at Big Meadows.



September 16, 2006    Edinburg, VA
Ole' Time Festival    
Six 'CCC boys' rode in the festival's parade.   They were (from left to right) Walter Atwood, Joe DeCenzo, Everette Leake, Clifford Sine, Curtis Stallard, and Larry McGlynn.

Larry Mcglynn will be 89 in December, and drove a truck while he was in the Cs.   For about 6 months in 1936, he worked in 4 camps, Cumberland, PA; Ft. Meade, MD; Edgewood, MD; and Aberdeen, MD.   While he was at Aberdeen he stayed on the military post (camp 3220), and helped with mosquito control and airport runway extension.   He said "the CCC boys were not too popular with the army privates.   The boys made $30 per month while the privates made $21 per month."

Larry rejoined the Cs in 1939-40 (14 months), and worked with Company 375 in the Shenandoah National Park out of Camp NP-10.


Walter Atwood, President of NACCCA and CCC boy in the states of Idaho and Wyoming attended along with Joe DeCenzo, CCC boy at Sligo, PA and later SCS employee.


Camp Roosevelt Annual Reunion in Edinburg, VA on Sept 10, 2006.
Hostess for the day was President of the CCC Legacy Foundation, Joan Sharp.

CCC boys attending:

Walter Atwood grew up on a farm in Kansas.   He enrolled in the CCC in 1940 and served for 6 months in Wyoming and 6 months in Idaho.   He served in the USAF in the South Pacific during WWII.   He is currently President of NACCCA and lives in South Carolina.

Landon Walker ran a dozer at Camp 26 near Calso, VA

Everette Leake worked at Big Meadows.




Curtis Stallard joined the CCC at the age of 13 and worked at 3 camps in Virginia.   The first one was at Bedford where he helped build a 135 acre lake by driving a dozer to move the earth and then by sodding the freshly moved earth which was subject to erosion.   He visited the lake recently to find that it was now in private ownership, and had houses built all around it.   Later, he worked on roads at Big Stone Gap and at Clintwood.





Hal Bush will be 98 on Veterans day, and he worked in several CCC camps.   The last one he worked at was Bull Hill in PA.   He worked there until it closed in 1941, and then became a forest ranger, and worked in 6 National Forests.   In the CCC, he worked on roads, trails, and reforestation projects.
Peter Humenuk helped build telephone lines in 1939 near Coatsville, PA.   He used a 50 pound sharp pointed bar to dig holes for the poles.   Peter said "that was the hardest work he did in his life and later he worked in the steel mills, and he dug those holes for a dollar a day except of the dollar 22/30ths of that was send home to the family.   Right after pay day, he would buy cigarettes rather than roll his own.   Cigarettes cost about 10 cents a pack, and they came by cartons of 10 packs.   The carton would be made up of 4 packs picked by the boys and 6 packs selected by the canteen worker.   He said packs of Pall Malls would go begging."

William Miller was from Luray, VA and worked at Camp Roosevelt in the motor pool in the 4 bay garage shown below.   This building was moved from Camp Roosevelt to Edinburg in 1943.   Red Hatashell was supervisor of the motor pool.   William worked in the Cs for 6 months until he obtained a construction job in Washington DC.   He served in World War II and said "his experience in the Cs helped him get a motor pool job in the Army."


Northern Virginia Chapter 13 met at Magill's restaurant on Sept 9, 2006.
Four (John Yancy, Larry Baird, Joe DeCenzo, and Walter Atwood) CCC boys attended.   Pictured (left to right) is Walter Atwood (President of NACCCA), Norma Burnette (daughter of first CCC enrollee - Henry Rich and President of Chapter 13), and Joe DeCenzo (CCC Camp Sligo, PA) just as we concluded pledging allegiance to our flag.


John Yancey was raised near the Florida border in southern Georgia.   His first four nights away from home were spent on a train going to a CCC camp in Oregon.
Larry Baird grew up in New Hampshire, and worked in three CCC camps.   The first was in TN where the boys built a recreation area overlooking Norris dam and the lake above it.   The camp was closed when the reservoir above the dam was about to flood it.   Larry then went to Washington to clear grand fir trees that had died when they were flooded by Clear Lake near Yakima.   It took 3 months to cut the trees up and remove them from the 40 acre site.   Some of the trees were so big that dynamite was used to break them up.   Then he moved to a SCS camp in the Finger Lakes area of NY, and planted trees on the contour on badly eroded farm land.   Larry said "he got pretty strong from swinging the pick mattock which made a hole large enough to place a tree seedling and then stomping the hole shut with the heel of his boot."   He completed his days with the CCC as a canteen steward, and joined the Navy in December of 1936.   Larry celebrated his 63rd wedding anniversary the day before our luncheon.


Symposium on the Good Times/Hard Times 1890-1940 around Lost City, WV
held at Lost River State Park on August 5, 2006
Highlights of this meeting included remarks by three of the CCC boys that were assigned to Camp Hardy and helped build Lost River State Park.   The boys attending were Raymond Daugherty, Tom Halterman, and Lester Fishel.  

Lester (to the right in the picture below) enrolled in 1939 and stayed one year.   The cabins were under construction while he was there, and he dug a lot of the ditches for their water supplies.   He commented that all of the concrete to build the swimming pool was made by a putt-putt mixer and moved by wheelbarrow.   After the CCCs, Lester drove an 18 wheeler for 40 years, and his favorite city is Chicago.

Tom (to the left in the picture below) explained that not all camps had machines to make building materials.   He said "Camp Hardy had a saw mill, a stone crusher, a stone cutter, and a shingle mill, and supplied materials to 4 or 5 of the nearby camps."

Ray explained how some camps were started.   He said "A group of around 25 boys would move from an established camp to construct facilities for a new camp.   During May 1934, a group of boys from Camp Leadbine in Tucker County, WV moved to Hardy County to build Camp Hardy.   In a few months a group of boys from Camp Hardy moved to Pendleton County, WV to build Camp White."   Ray's brother, Ralph, was in that group.

Ray was proud of the one home run he hit playing on the baseball team, and he said "it was a grand slam!"


Northern Virginia Chapter 13 Annual Picnic June 10, 2006
This picnic was held at Mike's Italian Restaurant in Alexandria, VA with 12 people attending including three CCC boys: (left to right) Charlie Brewer, Burton "Burt" L. Appleton, and Larry Baird.

Charlie worked out of Camp 420 near Lookout Mountain, TN.   He was a draftsman.

Burt was from NY City and went all the way out to Glacier Park to work.   He said "they dug ditches, put in phone lines, cleared timber, and fought forest fires.   They went out to work every day regardless of weather, and the winters were so cold he only stayed 1 year from April 1939 through March 1940."   He enjoyed playing baseball.   On weekends after policing the grounds and scrubbing the barracks, he would hitch hike to the "big" city of Kalispell 35 miles away or one of the closer small towns of Whitefish or Columbia Falls.   He and his buddy Walter Matthau would go to get away from the regimen of camp life and seek a respite from the horrible food!


Northern Virginia Chapter 13 met at Magill's restaurant on March 11, 2006.
Some of those attending from left to right were:
   Joe DeCenzo (CCC Camp Sligo, PA)
   Norma Burnette (daughter of first CCC enrollee - Henry Rich and President of VA Chapter 13). Norma's husband Joe's father was a CCC enrollee in NC.
   Mary Gallas (daughter of Frank Mathis and wife of Peter Gallas -both CCCers)
   Karl Landstrom (age 97 from Camp Moro, OR)
   Joan Sharp (President of the Legacy Foundation)
   Vernon Hill (Chapter 13 Secretary)
   Owen Davis (from Camp Monroe and ????)
Joe DeCenzo was born March 18, 1918, and grew up in Indiana, PA.   He enrolled in CCC Camp Sligo (SCS-5-PA) in April 1937, and was Company 2323's Clerk from then until June 26, 1941.   He clearly remembers filling out CCC form 7 EVERY month detailing work accomplished.

Joe was quite athletic, and soon after enrolling became the player/manager of the camp's baseball and basketball teams.   He recalls that "the company commander had a keen interest in sports too, and on game day would assign the whole team to the same work detail and have them return to camp around 2:00, a couple of hours early.   During basketball season, the CCC team would play the 'Third Game' after the JV and Varsity high school games.   They would play semi-pro teams and pack the gym, which was a boost to the communities economy and morale.   During baseball season, a church would usually sponsor a game as a fund raiser.   The team would play a game at 11 am, the church would provide lunch, followed by the second game of the double header."

After the CCC's, Joe joined the military to do his year of service, but stayed until World War II was over.   In 1948, he started work with the Soil Conservation Service.   Joe worked as an accountant with Hugh Hammond Bennett for about 10 years.   Similar to his days with the CCC, after work, he would take classes at Southeastern University in DC where he earned his degree in Accounting.   He recalls that Mr. Bennett had a farm in Northern Virginia and would give several SCSers the OPPORTUNITY to weed his garden and pick berries on the weekends.
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Karl was an Army reserve officer on active duty from May 1935, and served first at Vancouver Barracks, WA under George C. Marshall.   Later, he moved to McKenzie River before becoming the Army officer in charge of the camp at Moro, OR in the spring of 1937.   He was relieved from active duty October 1937 when Camp Moro closed.
Karl said "the enrollees at Camp Moro, were mostly from Massachusetts, were well behaved, little or no disciplinary problems.   They participated well in the Army's educational program, and took well to the work program as assigned by the SCS."
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Vernon Hill worked in 4 camps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from July of 1940 to early 1942.   Technical leadership was by the Forest Service.   The primary work was TSI (timber stand improvement), but the boys also fought forest fires, built fire towers, roads as fire breaks, and camp grounds.   The camps he worked were Morman Creek, Evelyn, Cooks (near Manistique), and Paradise.   At Camp Evelyn, he took classes in radio communications.   He learned the Morse Code and basic electronics, and was a full time radio operator at his last two camp locations.   Vernon said he clearly recalls that on Monday morning, December 8, 1941 (day after Pearl Harbor) he received an ALL STATION message that said "you will close the camp down immediately!"

In early January, his commanding officer, a Captain in the Reserves from WWI, took a message from Fort Sheridan that said "will enrollee Hill accept a position as a radio operator, civilian at Fort Sheridan?"   Vernon accepted and stayed there for a year.

When I asked if he played baseball, Vernon said "no, not really.   In the UP of Michigan there is 9 months of winter and 3 months of poor skiing!"


    Thanks go to John Eastlake for this information.
Williamsport, PA
2003 Little League World Series

Jim "Red" Franklin throws out the first pitch at the 2003 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.   Red was in the S-78 Cooks Run CCC camp, which was above Renovo, PA.   Red was with a group that had come from Alabama.   Now he's the Mayor of South Renovo, PA.


A Northern Virginia Chapter 13 Picnic around 1997
held in Prince William Forest National Park.

Among the attendees were three CCC boys that helped build the park.   In front is Charles W. Mecca.   In the back on the left is John Kakalec, and on the right is Joseph H. Hebda.

Joe Hebda was born in 1914 near Pittsburg, PA, and joined the CCC in 1934.   He first served in Company 329 at Camp S-51, Pine Grove Furnace, PA.   In July 1935, he joined Company 2349 at Camp SP-25, Joplin, VA where he was the supply clerk.   He helped build roads, trails, and cabins in Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area.   He met and married Thelma, a local girl, and stayed with CCC until 1938.   He served with Construction Battalion 59 of the U.S. Navy during World War II.   In 1949, Joe began his career at Prince William Forest Park as a maintenance foreman and retired in 1979 as Chief of Maintenance, a job that he loved.   Joe passed away in 2007.
   Page started March 13, 2006 by Owen Lee last updated Apr 6, 2008