CCC Legacy Journal:  July-August 2009, Vol. 33, Issue 4,

Remembrance:  William E. Fudge, Jr. Co. 366, S-125, Pennsylvania

April 10, 1941—April 9, 1942

 I lived in Jersey shore, PA and in April 1941, I was 17 years old, the oldest of six children.  My family was having a hard time of it  so I quite high school and went to Williamsport, PA and enlisted in the CCC.  I wanted to go to the National Park camps in the west so bad.  I could feel the excitement of being there, but, was sent over the mountain from Williamsport to White Deer Valley, Elimsport, CCC Camp Co. 366, S-125 PA.

 My first assignment was at the Williamsport hospital serving as a clerk for a dentist who was examining draftees.  I had an outline of the mouth that showed each tooth number.  The dentist would tell me the number of the tooth and if it was to be pulled out to put a circle around it and if it is was a tooth that needed a filling to put an X on it. 

 When my day was done with the dentist I would walk around Williamsport and South Williamsport until 5:00 pm.  On my walk across Market Street Bridge I met a young woman and had a conversation with her and then we went our ways.

 When my duty with the dentist was over, I worked in the blacksmith shop repairing tools and sharpening picks with heat from the forge, repairing chains and other items.

 I worked on the roads removing downed trees and repairing ditches.  Today, when driving South on Rt. 15 out of South Williamsport at the top of the mountain there is a road on your left called Armstrong Road east along the mountain to Muncy, PA which was built by our CCC camp in 1941. 

I also fought forest fires on the north side of Bald Eagle Mountain Range.  The Pennsylvania Railroad ran west along the Susquehanna River at the base of the mountain range.  The locomotives would shoot soot and sparks on the mountains and start fires.  I spent many days and nights on the mountain with a 5 gallon tank of water strapped to my back with a hose and a squirter to spray hot spots. 

 This camp was made up of men from the hard coal region, Scranton, Kulpmont, Shamokin and Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania.

 While at this CCC camp I was enrolled at Williamsport Technical Institute taking up aviation Engine Assembly and had 168 hours in this course.

 In late 1941 and early 1942 our camp was disbanded and there were only 10 or 15 of us kept and our new designation was Co. 366, Williamsport Central Repair Shop Detachment (WCRS Det.) Camp S-125 PA.  We went every day to South Williamsport District garage and repaired equipment and to different camps to pick up equipment. 

 Now the young lady I met on the Market Street bridge in April 1941 became my wife on August 23, 1943.  We were married for 62 years when she died on August 14, 2005.  We had seven children—four boys and three girls and we lost our first boy on April 29, 1944. 

 I was discharged from the CCC on April 9, 1942 and I enjoyed every moment of it.  On 4 January 1944, I went into the Navy and was stationed at Pearl Harbor Amphibious repair base until December 1945.  I was discharged at Sampson NY December 31, 1945.

 Submitted by:  William Fudge  

Photographs supplied by:  John Eastlake