Two weeks ago in this space we looked at the C.C.C., or Civilian Conservation Corps, and what it did locally during the New Deal of 1933 to 1942. C.C.C. was a one-year employment program for young men (or in some cases, Great War veterans), focusing on outdoor work. Watkins Glen, Allegany, Stony Brook, Buttermilk, Taughannock, and Robert Treman State Parks all owe a great deal of their infrastructure to the C.C.C., and they did some of the earliest work to create Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.
Besides that, they were called into service after the catastrophic 1935 flood killed 44 people. That flood flowed in part from poor land use practices – a problem the state geologist had warned about well before the Civil War. The U.S. Soil Service made the upper Conhocton River, especially the Avoca area, a showcase soil conservation project. Part of this included reforestation, and C.C.C. lads created many tree plantations, including one in the shape of a giant “A” that overlooked Avoca for many years. (It was partly removed when the Southern Tier Expressway came in.) A drainage ditch in Howard, near Buena Vista, is probably C.C.C. Work.
The C.C.C. men put in roads, drainage, and stone buildings for Chenango Valley State Park… not to mention a nine-hole golf course. C.C.C. crews working in Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville included a company of veterans from the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR!
Since much of the New Deal was created “on the run,” the C.C.C. was put under charge of the only government agency used to dealing with large numbers of young men – the army.
But these were VERY LARGE numbers in the Triple-Cees. Military men like Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower learned how to work with that – a skill that would be vital in the World War II years of 1940-45.
They also learned to work with men who expected to be treated as citizens, rather than as recruits to be abused and screamed at.
The generation that grew up in the Depression largely missed out on medical care, dental care, and proper diet. In the Triple-Cees they ate well, some for the first time in their lives. They got their teeth fixed. They got their vaccinations. They got care for treatable conditions. Over a fifth of World War II recruits washed out medically. Without C.C.C., it would have been far higher.
Young men learned skills (such as construction) that made them employable in the civilian world AND vital in the military. Those who didn’t have diplomas were given courses, and finished high school. Those who were illiterate (a startling percentage) were taught to read – all of which would strengthen the World War II army, and our postwar civilian economy.
President Roosevelt fiercely decreed that the program would have no hint of militarization, and wouldn’t even offer R.O.T.C. – he didn’t want anything even vaguely like the Hitler Youth.
Even so, participants experienced some very basic military features – uniforms, camps, barracks, K.P. When they went into the service in our huge buildup, these men already had a speaking acquaintance with the military way of doing things. It eased their transition, AND the army called on them as leaders for the younger rookies.
Actors Raymond Burr, Robert Mitchum, and Walter Matthau were C.C.C “graduates.” So was Archie Moore, future Light Heavyweight Boxing World Champion. Baseball great Stan Musial was in the C.C.C. Chuck Yeager, World War II fighter ace and first man to break the sound barrier, did his term in the C.C.C. So all in all, we owe a great debt of thanks to the Civilian Conservation Corps.