Evening star., 1934-04-05
c. c. c. ENROLLING
RECRUITS AGAIN
District Allotted Ala Places.
Unit Started a Year
Ago.

SOIpS 1OI u pSIlOQ OF SIX mOutLS.
The District OF Columbia has been
allotted ~ young men for duty in
the forest camps, while the veterans
organizations In the District also are
receiving applications for about rs
Seniors" composed of ex-service men.
After receipt of applications, neo-
phyte timber-toppers will have their
qualifications examined and those
with dependent families will be the
first selected, officials said today.
Certification Of applicants Is being
carried on throughout the entire
Sd Corps Area of the Army, officers
said. Three Army posts in this area
will be used for the conditioning Of
those men selected. Enrollees from
the District will be trained at Fort
Monroe, Va.
Started Year Ago.
One year ago, on April 7, 1893, the
first members of the c. G.. c. were
officially certified and sent from the
District to Fort Washington, Md, for
conditioning prior to entering the
forests.
President Roosevelt announced he
had appropriated $10,000.000 and
the, first consignment Of c. c. c. men
would be IS 900, of which the District
would recruit the first 500. Selected
men from relief rolls started signing
their oaths Of ofice at Fort Wash
ington and another great experiment
was under way.
A week passed. Candidates for the
c. c. G. were refusing to accept en-
rollment. There was confusion over
exactly what the requirements might
be and what the men would do after
enrolling. Becoming somewhat des-
perate over lack of enrollees. large
contingent Of men from Salvation
Army transient relief were transferred
to the c. c. c. and started for Fort
Washington.
Ten days after the first man had
been enrolled, the first C. c. c. COM
pany of 200 men, accompanied by
officers and enlisted men from Fort
Washington, embarked for the Mas
sanutten Mountains. lying between
Luray and Edinburg, Va. in a cup
like valley along the side of Fort
Mountain.
Camp Is Speeded.
Meantime, President Roosevelt had
become somewhat impatient over de-
lays, and had requested Army officials
to have a contingent sent out i'm
mediately. That was the first group,
vvyy, al. Aeka
April II.
1t was necessary for the men to sleep
on canvas folding cots with no cover
ing except raincoats. All supplies Of
food and equipment were delayed by
the hairpin twists of tortuous noun
tain road, and did not arrive until
the following day.
Huddled about camp fires in groups
OF 10 and 20 they passed the night.
Mud. rain and Spring snaps Of
cold weather. interspersed with sleet
and some snow, discouraged this ad-
vance unit, many Of whom had only
been in Fort Washington a few days
before being sent out into the forests.
Weeks passed and from the morass
OF mud and Ill feeling there arose a
model camp after which thousands of
others were soon to be patterned in
the United States. The Spring sun
dispelled bad humors and dried out
the soaked land.
Work and more work, and as Sum-
mer became reality the camp itself
was completed, and work in the for
ests and along the mountain trails
became the daily routine.
Since then year has passed.
Discharges Diminishing.
Thousands Of men have been en-
rolled, discharged and thousands Of
others enrolled to take their places.
A review Of Camp Roosevelt shows
q mere handful Of not more than a
score remain Of the original 200
youths who established
it.
During last Fall and the past
Winter, re-enrollments and new en-
rollments were made to fill up
depleted ranks, and the latest news
from the G. c. c. front indicates the
number Of weekly discharges is dimin-
ishing, due, many believe, to the
Summer work ahead, which has for
many men greater appeal than the
mountain heights of VIM
ter.
OF the new men being enrolled in
3rd Corps Area there will be a total
Of 2,605 from the District and from
Virginia at Fort Monroe; 3,625 from
Pennsylvania at Fort Hoyle and 5,185
from Eastern Pennsylvania and Mary
land at Fort Meade.
Former members Of the c. c. c.
including Army officers and enlisted
men and Forest Service workers are
planning to form a reserve unit un-
der direction of the c. c. c. official
Happy Days, it was an
nounced this week by the War De-
partment.