The Flash, February 1941

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* THE FLASH *
THE LIGHT IN THE LIFE OF CCC CO. 1720
FEBRUARY, 1941
CALEDONIA, MINN. CCC 1720
Vol. 4 No. 6
Radio and Woodworking
Shop Exchange Homes
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MOVE MADE TO CREATE MORE
WORKMANLIKE CONDITIONS
AT CAMP 1720
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The United States Army, because
of a shortage of buildings and facilities, is building new ones. Company 1720, like other CCC companies, is unable to build very many
new buildings, but it is certainly
able, and does, shift the old surroundings to create better working
conditions.
The radio room, which formerly
occupied the small room at the west
end of the bathhouse, has now become the woodworking shop, and
the woodworking shop has, in turn,
become the radio room.
The move has come as a result of
a desire to create more workmanlike conditions of privacy in the
radio room, and to also provide in it
more space to accommodate the
extra students in the class. In its
old locale, it was a difficult, thing
for one of the radio students to
breathe without fear of dislocating
a shingle from the roof.
Obviously the situation, called for
radical change. Lacking the allowances of the army to build, the
personnel of Company 1720 did the
next best thing. Like the, tin eating
animal of much reknown, they used
their heads.
The members of our personnel
may not qualify in all respects as
generals, but, certainly, they do
know how to maneuver.
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DR.  GILBERT HOLDS FIRST
AID  CLASS FOR PERSONNEL
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The entire personnel of both the
army and technical service staffs is
enrolled in a first aid class conducted by Dr. Harold Gilbert, the Camp
physician.
The personnel members will, upon
completion of the course, be qualified to give first aid instruction to
the enrollees of the company. Such
instruction to all enrollees is now
mandatory in the CCC.
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TWIN GIRLS BORN TO
MR AND MRS. EVANS
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Twin girls were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas R. Evans at the Caledonia hospital, Friday morning,
January 24, at approximately 7 o'clock a. m. The girls, born 37 minutes apart, weighed in at 5 pounds
and 5 pounds 7 ounces respectively.
Mr. Evans is Junior Biologist connected with the Soil Conservation
Service of Company 1720.
Bowen Transferred To
Subaltern School
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Claude M. Bowen, Company
Clerk of Company 1720, was transferred Saturday, January 25, to
Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where he
will attend the Iowa District Subaltern School.
The subaltern school will be in
session for four or five weks. Two
members of each company in the
Iowa District were to be chosen for
the training. Claude M. Bowen and
Charles Buchmayer were chosen
from Company 1720, but Buchmayer declined the offer.
There will be many openings for
subalternships in the next four
months. The present subalterns of
most companies hold Reserve Officers' commissions and are due to
be called to active duty at any time.
Therefore the Seventh Corps Area
wishes to instruct capable civilians
in subalternship in order to meet
this emergency. The result of this
fore thought is the Subaltern
school at Fort Des Moines.
All members who are enrolled in
this class are considered to be on
detached service and are, therefore, still carried as members of
their original companies.
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ALL MEN TO RECEIVE
FIRST AID INSTRUCTION
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Robert E. Rogers and Roger Williams have left for Belle Plaine,
Iowa, where they will receive two
weeks of instruction in first aid.
Mr. Rogers is a foreman in the
Soil Conservation Service of Camp
M-2 and Roger is the company's
hospital orderly.
On the completion of their training both wili receive first aid instructor's certificates. They will,
then, return to the company well
equipped to assist Dr. Gilbert, the
Camp physician, and other qualified
persons in instructing incoming enrollees in the science of first aid.
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LT. BOYE ESCORTS ROOKIES
FROM JEFFERSON BARRACKS
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Lt. A. J. Boye, Subaltern of Company 1720, journeyed to Jefferson
Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri to take
charge of the train carrying Missouri enrollees assigned to Missouri
Companies in the Iowa District.
Lt. Boye returned safely to the
company, bringing with him, 75 new
replacements ten of whom will be
transferred from the company in
che near future.
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Man is the only animal you can
skin several times.
Snow and Ice Played
Havoc With Program
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The sheet of ice and overlaying
blanket of snow which have gripped this section of Minnesota since
January the 14th have played havoc
with the conservation program of
Company 1720.
During the period of enforced
vacation from their usual duties, the
men have passed the time in cleaning and shining the floors and
windows of the barracks and other
camp buildings, clearing icy sidewalks, and in a general tidying of
the whole camp area. None of the
men have been allowed to suffer
from a lack of work, and some,
especially the cooks and K. P.'s have
had to put forth more than their
usual amount of effort.
The general feeling among the
men of the company seems to be
that these vacations are not just
what they are "cracked up" to be.
The change from normal routine
which was, perhaps, at first welcome
has come to be wearisome, and, almost without exception, the desire
of all the men seems to be to get
"back into the harness" as soon as
possible.
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WINTER EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAM STARTS
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Company 1720's educational program for the January-March quarter has gotten off to a flying start.
The program, a pretentious one, has
been well received by the enrollees.
Enrollments in practically all classes
are well above par.
Several changes have been inaugurated in the program this quarter. It is felt that all of them are for
the better.
In the academic field, the greater
amount of stress has, now, been
placed upon the subjects, arithmetic and English, as a thorough
knowledge of both of these subjects
is necessary for one to attain any
measure of success in life.
In the vocational field, the transferring of men from various camps
through the Iowa District, who
were especially interested in radio,
to this company, combined with the
excellence of the radio instruction
offered by Mr. Nordahl H. Boe, has
insured the success of the radio
classes. Also, in the vocational field,
have been added classes in blueprint reading, mechanical drawing,
and wild life management, with
mess management replacing cooking.
In the vocational field, the class in
journalism    has    been    reorganized.
Those men enrolled in the class are
(Continued on page 4)
26 Enrollees Leave
For Lanesboro Camp
HEADQUARTERS TO MAKE 1720
AN ENTIRE MISSOURI ORGANIZATION
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Twenty-six Missouri and Arkansas enrollees from Company 1720
were transferred to Company 706 at
Lanesboro, Minnesota. The move
came as the result of an official order from Iowa District Headquarters; the intention being to make of
Company 1720 an entirely Missouri
organization.
There now remains in the company
only a handful of men, other than
those especially transferred here to
participate in the radio courses, who
hail from any state other than
Missouri. Permission to keep these
men in the company was granted
because they held key positions and
their loss would have been deeply
felt by the company.
The majority of the transferees,
as well as the entire company, regretted the move deeply. It is a difficult thing to pull "stakes" and
leave behind old friends and familiar surroundings.
The men sent to Company 706
were a fine group, and will undoubtedly prove an asset to their
new company. It is certain that they
will soon be able to adjust themselves to their new surroundings and
become just as happy as they were
in Company 1720.
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CAMP LIBRARY MOVED
TO RECREATION HALL
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The camp library and reading
room, which formerly shared with
the educational adviser's office the
south room of the educational building, is, as we go to press, being
moved to the recreation hall.
About 30 feet has been partitioned off at the east end of the recreation hall. All books, magazines, and
newspapers will be moved to the
new library in the near future.
The room which formerly held
both the library and educational
advisers' office has also been partitioned. It now contains two rooms,
one of which will be used as a typing classroom and one as the educational advisers office.
The creation of the new typing
room makes possible the use of the
old typing room for regular class
activity. The new educational adviser's office will be much more private than it was under the old arrangement.
All of the new construction will
be completed and put into effective
use in the very near future.