The Flash, June 1939

              • THE FLASH*
JUNE, 1939
CALEDONIA, MINN. CCC 1720
VOL. 3 No. 9
Geo. Harrison Goes
To Bayport, Minn.
LEAVES    CO.    1720    AFTER    FOUR
YEARS OF EFFICIENT
SERVICE
For over four years Geo. A. Harrison has been the Camp Superintendent
of the using agency of Company 1720,
located at Caledonia, Minn. Before that
time he was assigned as Superintendent
■with camps at Hokah and Houston,
Minn.
The veteran's company, located at
Rochester, Minn., Company 1774, has
teen moved to Bayport, just out of
Stillwater, Minn., and Mr. Harrison
will be the head of the using agency
in that camp. His family will reside in
Stillwater. This is considered a very
desirable post, and we congratulate
him on his new assignment. We are
sorry to see Mr. Harrison leave us, after so many years of efficient service
with our camp, and wish him and his
family the best of everything in their
new location.
Fred Kesler, former Superintendent
at Company 1774, Rochester, Minn.,
will succeed to the superintendency of
our using service. It is reported that
he will arrive about July first of this
year. In the meantime, Emmet V. Voll,
Engineering Aid at this camp will be
acting Superintendent.
 1	
Camp Enrollees Receive
High School Credits
With the closing of the traditional
school year in June we find that the
efforts of some of the boys in camp in
the field of high school training have
yielded a total of fourteen full year
credits earned by four individuals of
the camp.
John Fouty graduated from the Caledonia High school on June, 1st, 1939,
and Bruxie Howell earned three credits
as a student in the same school.
These boys walked a distance of
over a mile to and from school to attend the local high school in addition
to attending to their regular camp duties. This takes some determination on
their part, but they feel well repaid for
their efforts.
Other boys who earned high school
credits during the past year are Harold
Speltz and John Kassin. Eugene Can-
field, who left in April, was successfully carrying five high school subjects
in camp at the time he was discharged.
He continued his studies under the
guidance of the high school principal
in his home town after he left camp.
This was also true of Carl Dedrick, who
left in April. He was carrying two high
school subjects and is continuing them
at home.
These high school credits represent a
lot of money and they have a definite
cash value to the boys. These boys will
be able to go on to finish high school
when they leave camp because of having caught up with a year of work
while in the CCC.
John Kassin left last week for Des
Moines, Iowa, where he will attend
school during the summer. He then
will enroll in De La Salle High school
of Chicago next fall, where, due to
having completed the equivalent of a
year's high school work in camp the
past year, he will enroll as a senior. He
plans to specialize in secreterial work
during the coming school year, and
graduate next spring.
 X	
If bad habits could only be broken
as easily as good promises we'd all be
better off.
Sunday, June 18th
On that day Dad has his inning. He never has been the
inspiration of the poets, as Mother has been. This is natural;
yet he has been the faithful provider that kept the family
secure and comfortable. He has spent the better part of his
years plugging away and bringing home the bacon, that you
might have opportunities he never enjoyed. He probably will
scoff at any attempts to set him up on a pedestal, yet we appreciate and love him for all he means to us. So let's take this
opportunity to express our affections for him. "Dad, we think
you're swell!"
Changes Made In The
Kitchen, Hospital Force
During the past month there have
been several shifts in the ratings in
camp, particularly in the kitchen force.
John Sanders, who for the last two
years has presided over the destinies
of the grub producing forces of the
camp, took a discharge to accept employment. He was succeeded in this
very important post by our good friend
the baker, Fenton Johnson. Elree Rut-
ledge has taken over the baking duties,
and is doing very well in his new field
of endeavor.
LeRoy Bull is has been commissioned
dining room orderly to take the place
left vacant when G. Bowman resigned.
Junior French, our long time assistant hospital orderly was promoted to
hospital orderly, the position formerly
held by John Kassin, who was discharged te continue his education. Harold Bonney has been made assistant
hospital orderly.
Company Establishes
New Safety Record
Since last reported in this paper, the
safety record, like "oT man ribber,"
has kept rolling along. We knocked on
wood last time and it worked, to we
feel safe in doing the same thing again.
To date the record stands at 433
days without a lost time accident,
which, you will agree, is a lot of days.
This is a record of which we can well
be proud, and every man is keeping
heads up on his safety consciousness to
boost it still further. Congratulations to
everybody concerned, and that includes everybody in the camp.
Educational Advisers
Hold Conference at Ames
From June 5 to 9 of this month the
Educational Advisers of the Iowa District held a training conference at Iowa
State College located at Ames, Iowa.
The week was spent in the consideration of many of the most important
problems of the training program of
the enrollees of the cgmps. Prominent
specialists on vocational and academic
training addressed the advisers and
conferred with them on the problems
of camp training.
Committee reports were given by advisers, to the assembly, and they were
discussed with a view to application in
the camp educational program. More
than 30 subjects were discussed and
analyzed.
The conference was under the direction of C. C. Gordon, Iowa District
Educational Adviser. W. Homer Hill,
Seventh Corps Area Educational Adviser was in attendance at all sessions.
Much valuable information was gained by the advisers in attendance at the
conference, and should result in a general improvement in the training program.
 1	
LT.   KELLINGSWORTH   RETURNS
FROM DUTY WITH CO. 706
Lt C. H. Killingsworth, our Junior
officer, was on duty with Co. 706 at
Lanesboro the first week in June, during the time that Lt. Amen and Lt
Weissman of that company, were in
Fort Des Moines in connection with
the turning over of command from Lt.
Amen to Lt. Weissman. Lt. Amen will
go on regular duty with the Air Corps
of the U. S. Army.
 J	
Patronize   FLASH   Advertisers.
Co. 1720 Observes
Its Fifth Birthday
UNTT    MOVED     FROM     ELY     TO
CALEDONIA IN JUNE
OF 1935
June second is an important date in
the history of Company 1720, because
on that date in 1933 the company was
organized at Fort Snelling, and on June
2, 1934 the company arrived at Caledonia, Minn.
The first destination of the company
after its organization at Fort Snelling,
was a forestry camp with railhead at
Ely, Minn., where they stayed from
June, 1933 to the following April. They
then moved to a camp at Gooseberry
State Park, out of Two Harbors, Minn.,
where they remained for the summer,
moving back to Ely, Minn., in October
of the same year, 1934. Here they spent
the winter in forestry work. During
the spring of 1935 the company packed
up with the anticipation of moving
three times, each time to have the
move called off, when finally, the
fourth time, they received specific orders to move to Caledonia, Minn.
The boys arrived in Caledonia on
June 2nd, 1935, and located in their
new home at the fair grounds, where
tents were pitched and some of the fair
grounds buildings made use of for
housing the company activities. Here
they remained until the first part of
August when they vacated the fair
grounds and moved to the present location.
The camp area at that time was a
plowed field. Tents were the only shelters available. There were no rocked
roads as at present, and when it rained the area was a sea of mud, so impossible in fact that the trucks had to
be pulled into and out of camp by
caterpillar tractors. To cross the company street in wet weather one had to
wear four buckle overshoes to keep
shoes from being mired in the mud.
The mess hall was a tent with no sides,
so the dirt and flies were unrestrained
in entering. One day at dinner a strong
wind came up and blew the mess hall
loose from its stakes and it went sailing
across the area, leaving the diners
with nothing but the blue sky above
them to protect them from the burning sun. An almost unending number
of stories could be told of the discomforts of camp life in the early days.
The boy who comes into the camps
today really has the comforts and conveniences of an up to date apartment
in a large city, compared to what the
boys in the "pioneering" years enjoyed.
The company was commanded by Lt.
R. J. White, (now Capt. White, commanding a company at Fairfax, Minn.)
almost from the beginning of its existence to October, 1935. He was succeeded by Capt E J. Brucher, who
commanded the company from November, 1935 to May, 1938. Capt Brucher is
now in business at Waterloo, Iowa. Our
present Company Commander, Lt. I. J.
Weber, took command of the company
in May, 1938.
Only two members of the present
company were members at the time
that it was moved to Caledonia from
Ely, Minn. They are "Mayer" Krogh,
the SCS supply room clerk and Joe
Dahlberg, one of the Company's first
cooks.
—t    .
Life must be lived all the way from
A to Z; there's no E-Z short cut.
 1	
A temper beyond control is like an
airplane without a pilot.
 X	
Invest in courtesy—it costs little and
pays big dividends.