Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

Most of the people who are old enough to be called the "Over The Hill Gang" are known for their ability as good shoppers. They are always looking for a good deal, while deals are hard to find and always seem to have some kind of a catch to them.

Since the used car industry has cleaned up its act, a lot of the silver tongued devils have taken up positions on Wall Street. If you are involved in the stock market you must beware of their good deals. Before the used car salesmen there was the horse traders and again if you didn't know the ropes you could get skinned.

Back during the Big Depression. Jobs were hard to find, and unemployment was a situation that plagued our country. Our democracy was just about destroyed and the American way of life was going down the tube.

Something drastic had to be done and in 1933 along came the New Deal. The New Deal spawned an organization called The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and was authorized by the government to hire unemployed young men for public conservation work.

The CCC provided training and employment. The CCC conserved and developed natural resources by such activities as planting trees, building dams and fighting forest fires. More than two million men served in the CCC before Congress abolished it in 1942.

The CCC has had an impact on our county that is still seen in some areas of the county today. East of Emporium on Rt. 120 is Memorial Springs and on a Brass Plaque is a part of the CCC history that will live on forever.

To become a member of the CCC was a relatively easy thing to do. A man had to be eighteen years old of age and you had to be willing to sign for six months. At the end of six months you could leave or you could stay.

The pay for the rank and file was thirty dollars a month. Twenty five dollars was sent to your family and you were given five dollars. The officers got more, I don't know how much more but the portion they were given was ten dollars. Don't seem like much but beat the devil out of not having anything.

There was no basic training like the military had but they did have a rank system patterned after the Army. The uniform was standard Army issue and in the summer heat was almost unbearable. The men lived in barracks and ate in the Mess Hall. Each camp was assigned a number and in this area the numbers were S-78, S-86, S-88 and S-132. S-132 was located in Hunts Run.

The CCC camps were not like the civilian "Boot" camps of today. The young men of the CCC were not in these camps because of some criminal activity they were involved in. They were there to try and help their families survive during these trying times.

If you read "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw, then you have read about the CCC Boys as they went on to the military services and fought in WWII.

In October 1938 in the vicinity of Jerry Run and Lick Island, a forest fire of major proportions broke out. A fire fighting team from Camp S-132 was dispatched to fight this fire. There were crews from camps S-76, S-86, S-87 and Camp S- 88.

It is not clear how many men were involved in this fire fighting effort but they were there to try and save the men from camp S-132. A shift in the wind trapped eight men from Camp S-132 and they lost their lives.

The Brass Plaque at Memorial Springs list the date of this tragedy as Oct. 19, 1938. This was a sad day for the men of Camp S-132 as they had lost eight good friends. The men killed were: Gilbert Mohney, Howard F. May, Basil Bogush, Stephen Jacofsky, Andrew Stephanic, Ross Hollobaugh, John F. Boring and George W. Vogel.

As the plaque says, "MAY THEY REST IN PEACE." I can just imagine the sorrow that was created in this tight knit community. Andy Richnafsky had to take to the scene the sheets they used to cover the bodies.

In 1938 there was no helicopters to pluck these bodies from the steep terrain where they met their maker. The recovery effort must have been one tough job for these gallant troops. I do not know if the CCC men had dog tags so if they didn't, I imagine identifying the remains would have been a tedious task.

By 1942 when Congress shut down this program, the war had taken care of the unemployed. Most able body men were in the military and those that were not in the military were working somewhere in the war effort. At this time in our history was when the women joined the work force and they have been there ever since.

It has been my proud pleasure to say that I have met and know five men who were at CCC Camp S-132. Two of them have left this world and I hope they are resting well.

I never knew Baldy Kavoluk by any other name than Baldy and I am not even sure if I spelled his last name correctly. The other gentleman is Al Kuleck who was not only known for his CCC time but also for what he did for the Little League program.

The living members of Camp S-132 are Paul W. Crosby, Paul Palamachuck and Andy Richnafsky. If I missed someone, I apologize. Knowing these men has given me the pleasure to have touched a part of our country's history.

Labor Day is near at hand and is a holiday to honor the American working man. He has been involved in every faucet of our history and deserves the recognition that this day gives him. In the last few years he hasn't made much progress because of the influx of illegal workers and the out-source of American jobs. When we get to the full scale war with the Muslims, you can bet it won't be the doing the fighting.