CCC benefits lasted long after work
By Tom Linton
Contributor
Published April 20, 2008
Editor’s note: This is an occasional series of columns about Tom Linton’s travels to
the state parks of Texas with his dog, Brigid.
The hard work by the young men who enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps
helped better the state parks of Texas. These young men were in turn helped by the
CCC not only to outlast the Great Depression but by using the training they received
in the CCC to better themselves.
The 75th anniversary of the creation the CCC was March 28-29 at Bastrop State Park
— one of the showplace state parks the CCC created in Texas. Seventy former CCC
members attended the event to be praised for what they did and for them to renew
old acquaintances.
One of the special events at the reunion was a “guest appearance” by “FDR.” An
actor from Austin did a remarkable job in his impersonation of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. He had a hat and hairstyle that was FDR.
When the actor started his presentation, I winced — I thought he had been given the
wrong speech — it seemed too current. It was about the great increase in
foreclosures on farms and homes and a financial crisis in banking.
I began to feel relieved when he stated something about the Depression and a few
other things that made me realize, though appropriate for present times, he was
delivering FDR’s first inauguration speech. That was the one, you will recall, that
contained the much quoted phrase, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
The original was heard by millions of Americans in a variety of ways. My family
members heard it on my grandfather’s old monster-size radio while sitting out on the
“gallery” at his house in Carlisle. The pronouncement by Roosevelt gave them all
hope.
It was in this speech that Roosevelt foreshadowed the creation of the public works
program — a program of a magnitude never before, nor since, undertaken in the
United States.
The CCC, which was a part of that program, provided opportunities for thousands of
young men during the years of its existence. But where did they go from there —
what did they do after the CCC experience and did that experience influence their
future?
Numerous books and articles were written about the important role former CCCers
played in World War II. What happened to CCCers after the war is less well
documented. Did they make a career of the military or return to civilian life? And, if
they did return to civilian life, did the CCC experience lead to their future careers?
After his involvement in the restoration of the Mission at Goliad, Raiford Stripling
followed that line of work and went on to become one of the most prestigious
restoration architects in the nation. Was this the rule or the exception?
Janelle Taylor of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the organizer of the 75th
CCC reunion, has been interviewing former CCCers. Their stories are preserved for
us in a wonderful collection of recorded interviews. In these, she has found that
some went from the CCC and choose the military as a career. Others pursued
careers in civilian life that stemmed from skills learned in the CCC.
To learn more about “Life after CCC” I researched the question in a number of ways.
First, I read several transcripts of the oral history interviews obtained in the Parks
and Wildlife project. Also, I spoke with a number of the former CCC members at the
reunion in Bastrop. As a result, I found my preconceived notions that the CCC
training had, as in the case of Raiford Stripling, influenced their life and life-long
career path, was “somewhat” correct.
What, in a majority of the cases, enrollment in the CCC gave them was their “start”
in life.
“I enlisted in the Army from the CCC,” said one man, “and when I told them I had
been in the CCC, they made me a sergeant so I could train the new recruits as we
had been trained in the CCC.”
Another saved the money he made in the CCC and bought a car when he got out. It
provided transportation that then enabled him to get a job. The job was in a plant,
not serviced by the bus lines in Houston. The plant made replacement parts for
British airplanes.
He said: “This was before the U.S. entered the war, and what the Germans were
doing to the British airplanes caused the British to have a great need for replacement
parts. Having a car, which I would not have been able to afford if I had not been in
the CCC, led to me getting a job at a time when jobs were hard to come by.”
He added with a smile: “For a young, single man to have a car and a job in those
days had other advantages, too.”
When the United States did enter the war, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was
given an elevated rank because of his work experience at the airplane parts plant.
The Bonus Army marches on Washington after World War I apparently taught the
folks in Washington a lesson. After World War II, federal legislation was enacted that
created the GI Bill. This was a much-used “next step” in the progression from CCC to
a life-long career.
The CCC had a long lasting and formative influence for many of the enrollees. They
learned how to live and work together. They learned discipline. Many learned a skill
that opened doors of opportunity if they joined the military. Some learned a skill that
allowed them to take advantage of the GI Bill and to continue on an upward course
in life.
In his book “The Tree Army,” author Stan Cohn states that more than 40,000 of the
CCC enrollees were illiterate — they were taught the essential skill of reading as part
of the CCC program.
This no doubt greatly influenced the future of those 40,000 individuals — a “start”
that their participation in the CCC gave them which lasted throughout their lives.
Tom Linton is president of the Friends of Galveston Island State Park.