The following excerpts are taken from Once There Was A CCC written by Violet Hornsby and Violet Hill in 1987:
Brief History of Company 569 Civilian Conservation Corps
This book was begun with the desire to put on paper and thus leave a record of these men and their families.
The seed of a close friendship was planted when they lived and worked together in Camp. That friendship has been nurtured through our annual reunion which had its inception thirty years ago. However, their loyalty to each other and their deep bond of friendship is not limited to an annual “get together.” I feel that each of these men and their wives whose stories we are attempting to relate are and have been a very vital part of my life and I believe this is a feeling shared by all of us. I heard my husband, Joe Hornsby of Company 569, say many time that his C.C.C. buddies were like family. Their support and acts of kindness during his battle with cancer were deeply appreciated. It was his request that these men act as his pall bearers at his funeral. This wish was honored December 10, 1983. You might say that was his last earthly reunion with them
Joe Hornsby
In September of 1934, the boys were shipped out of Camp Horse Heaven. Their destination was Camp Kenworthy, located in the San Jacinto Mountains between Hemet and Palm Springs, California. A few days later they arrived in Hemet by troop train. Joes was first cook. He cooked their supper on the field range in the box car which served as a kitchen. A field range was a stove with no bottom in it, which sat on a mound of sand and was filled with wood. During the night, the night guard fell asleep and the kitchen caught fire from the range. Soon the cars were all filled with smoke and boys were jumping out windows, clad only in shorts or less, with local citizens as an audience. Fortunately, no one was injured. They spent the rest of the night in the train depot.
James Arvin Brown
While he was in camp in Stanfield he met the girl who was to become his wife, Dorothy Luciani of Echo, Oregon. Dorothy was taking a load of girls to Hermiston for Girls League Convention at Hermiston High. She was driving her folks’ Model A Ford. She had a new pair of English Brogue shoes and stopped in Stanfield to have cleats put on them – for what girl would want English Brogues without cleats? Jim pulled up in a truck, rolled down the window and asked if she knew where there was a dance that night and if he could have the first dance. She told him her folks were strict and wouldn’t allow her to go to the dance. Sometime later they ran into each other again in Stanfield. They took a walk during which time he told her he wanted to marry her and take her home to Mom. Dot was a senior and finished high school. Dot’s Italian grandma told her parents, “Better let’em get married – trouble if you don’t.”
Charles (Jack) Harpster
Jack worked in the kitchen with Joe Hornsby and Earl Greer for the full nine months of his enlistment. This time was all spent in Camp Stanfield. Besides his K.P. work he says he spent quite a bit of time chasing girls. With a twinkle in his eye he comments that he caught some and missed some. Fathers in the area were quite protective of their daughters where the three C boys were concerned. In connection with this Jack related the following amusing little story. He had a date with a local girl whose father had exacted a promise from him that said daughter would be home by eleven P.M. They must have enjoyed each other’s company a lot. Jack escorted her home at 4 A.M. and was greeted with a shotgun blast from her father. He says he did not ask questions – just ran fast.
Ben Burgess
My father was a share cropper (in McKissey, Kentucky) and he was a good husband and father. He was killed in an accident in 1932. From then on hard times were with us. Mother had to cook, clean and wash clothes for other people in order to keep us all together. So in 1936, with the help of my uncle, I fibbed about my age and joined the C.C.C. I was sent to Camp Stanfield. My first sight of all the sage brush and dust in Eastern Oregon made me want to go right back home. However, I soon met lots of good fellows who became my friends and many of them are friends to this day. I learned to like Eastern Oregon.
Daniel C. Hill
My CCC days will never be forgotten, at times we were so lonesome and so far away from home, this is when our friendship grew till we were like one big family. This is why our picnic each year means so much to us. It is a shame the young men of today are deprived of this opportunity.
