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Civilian Conservation Corps Uniforms Handbook


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Auction report, This red check woollen jacket was part of todays auction in Caen and realised 800 euros, approximately 894 dollars and it was apparently sold to an American bidder., if the winning bidder reads this page, Thank you very much and I hope that you enjoy owning the jacket.

 

sadly this evening several people contacted me to say that they struggled to register to bid, I was informed it's almost impossible to register once the auction has actually started,

 

lewis

 

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I HOPE it is me. Registering from the US was indeed a tremendous struggle.

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General Apathy

I HOPE it is me. Registering from the US was indeed a tremendous struggle.

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Hi Erik, many thanks for including photographs of my plaid ( red-check ) jacket in your CCC handbook and the gracious compliments you rewarded me with. I was very pleased to help you with the photo images and also to have managed to inform you of the impending auction, congratulations on your win, a worthwhile new owner for the jacket.

 

 

kind regards lewis.

 

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MastersMate

An off the wall question, if I may..

 

During the 1920s at the height of Prohibition, the Coast Guard enrolled a large number of temporary Warrant Officers to crew the patrol boats against the Rum Runnners. After the end of Prohibition, a large number of these Warrant Officers were transferred to an assignment with the Army for detailing to the new C.C.C. as officers / administrators ??. They were forgotten for a number of years by the Coast Guard until many of them were looking to be re assigned to the Coast Guard and the CG wanted to release them as excess officers..

 

Have you been able to locate any images of these forgotten WOs or any photos of maybe just what they wore for uniforms or insignia of grade and service.

 

Any info would be appreciated..

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Hi MM--

 

I'm afraid I can't help much with the USCG WOs. That's a really interesting story and a new one to me. I only learned in the course of thus project that USN officers were assigned to the CCC--the Coast Guard adds a new wrinkle to that.

 

I do see the WOs clearly mentioned in this transcribed document at the Justin CCC Museum:

 

http://www.justinmuseum.com/famjustin/cccarmy.html

 

The best guess I can give you is the coastie WOs likely wore their ordinary USCG service uniform, if they followed the practice of their Army and Navy colleagues. To get an image you would have to be lucky enough to find a camp or district annual (like a yearbook) and find a camp group portrait for a unit that had a USCG WO assigned. If you find one the WO will likely be formally dressed in the standard 20s-30s double breasted USN style service coat.

 

To my knowledge so far no branch of the military issued a CCC service ribbon or device. It was regarded as a six month detail to assist with a civil emergency, not a "big deal." The services were overall not ribbon crazy prior to WWII, and the old custom of wearing only your highest decorations not a whole salad bar was widely observed.

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MM--

 

You made me curious. I find in the Army's June 30 1939 report that exactly 60 USCG WOs were serving with the CCC. A quick check of the command staff rosters in a couple representative District Annuals available digitally online suggests that many, possibly most, of the USCG WOs may have been assigned to the Corps and District administrative HQ staffs rather than to individual CCC field camps.

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One more post:

 

Here is a cite from one district annual, Medford District, 9 Corps Area:

 

http://digitallib.oit.edu/digital/collection/kwl/id/13125/rec/1

 

Check page 21, District Property Division staff group photo. There is one of your WOs in civilian dress.

 

See also this text transcription of the 1937 District Annual for Sparta District, 6th Corps Area:

 

http://www.justinmuseum.com/cccpapers/sparta1937.html

 

Not the WOs listed in the District admistrative sections.

 

I think we have cracked the mystery. If most of the WOs were assigned to CCC district staffs, they most likely worked in civilian business attire, as was common for staff assigned to military administrative offices in the 1930s. Even US Army Chief of Staff George Marshall used to wear a business suit for desk work at the War Department in that era.

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MastersMate

Thanx so much, that answered a lingering question about the assignment of those W.O.s. The link is to the history of the CG Warrant Officers Association and the brief mention of the status of those W.O.s makes it appears they went directly to the operational camps. That info cleared up their assignments..

 

http://cwoauscg.org/about-the-cwoa/history/

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Thanx so much, that answered a lingering question about the assignment of those W.O.s. The link is to the history of the CG Warrant Officers Association and the brief mention of the status of those W.O.s makes it appears they went directly to the operational camps. That info cleared up their assignments..

 

http://cwoauscg.org/about-the-cwoa/history/

Never say never, MastersMate. During the crash mobilization in 1933 some of the WOs may indeed have been sent straight to field camps. But it seems given their ratings many made good admin personnel and that seems to be the niche they filled once things settled down.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Scott, I'd love to see your insignia at your convenience. I'll check out the link later today. --Erik

Sorry for the long delay Erik.... Things got a bit hectic at the museum and I forgot to get the CCC items photographed for you until today. So, here you can see one piece of different collar insignia (I think) and the cover of the photo album in the previous link I shared. Since posting back in April we have had several items brought in to include more photos and a CCC discharge document as well as a CCC plumbers certificate. Enjoy! Scott

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  • 1 month later...
General Apathy

I am pleased to announce the website Civilian Conservation Corps Uniforms Handbook, a visual guide to the clothing and accessories issued to enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942.

 

Link: www.cccuniforms.org

 

I wrote this guide to provide a single starting point for living history interpreters and collectors interested in the uniforms and insignia of the CCC. I'd like to thank this forum, its moderators and members for posting so many helpful threads and items from their collections over the years. And I would specially like to thank World War 1 Nerd for his amazing primers on Great War uniforms and footwear, much of which was also issued to the CCC.

 

I hope you find it helpful and I welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections.

 

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Hi Erik, not certain if you know the background to this fairly well known D-Day photograph. The soldier being helped ashore served in the CCC prior to WWII, details in the following post along with a photograph of him in his CCC days.

 

 

regards lewis

 

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General Apathy

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Hi Erik, The soldier being helped ashore in the previous photo June 7th 1944 served in the CCC prior to WWII, attached is a photograph of him in his CCC days, top right of this image.

 

Hi name is Nicolas Russin he was born in Lyndora P.A. December 18 1912 to Russian emigre parents, between September 1934 and November 1935 he served as a cook with the #1354 company in Asaph, he then moved to #350 company in Coudersport.

 

In 1943 he served with the QMC 5th Engineer Special Brigade Company B. and landed on Omaha beach June 7th 1944 with that unit.

 

He survived the war and died July 1997

regards lewis

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General Apathy

Is he the guy on the far right? Sleeveless shirt?

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

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Looking at the lack of leaves on the tree to the right I would judge the photograph to have been taken in the fall or spring. The soldier on the right and the one in the middle of the photograph are both wearing the white long sleeve winter vest, however the soldier on the right has chopped his sleeves off at the shoulder. I have had several long sleeve winter vests in my collection both white and o.d. versions, worn and NOS examples, I only ever found one veteran piece with the sleeves cut off.

 

regards lewis.

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Thanks for sharing Mr. Russin's story. Amazing pair of images.

 

Though the CCC was not a military training program, it nevertheless created a cadre of men of prime military age who were accustomed to many aspects of Army life and regulations. Inevitably many became "insta-sargeants" after 1941.

 

Returning to another topic, your buffalo check jacket made its interpretive debut here this past weekend.

 

 

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General Apathy

Thanks for sharing Mr. Russin's story. Amazing pair of images.

 

Though the CCC was not a military training program, it nevertheless created a cadre of men of prime military age who were accustomed to many aspects of Army life and regulations. Inevitably many became "insta-sargeants" after 1941.

 

Returning to another topic, your buffalo check jacket made its interpretive debut here this past weekend.

 

 

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Hi Erik,

 

Really pleased too see that the jacket has gone to a good home, maybe it was fate that we had contact with each other just a week or two before the auction, giving you time to get registered to bid, please keep this thread posted with your endeavours regarding the CCC.

 

best regards lewis.

 

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Wonderful, Lewis. That's the 1884 Oakland, MD depot of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which served as the nearest railroad station for several western Maryland CCC camps. I did an interpretive program this past Saturday evening at the historic pavilion at Swallow Falls State Park, built by Company 304, Camp S59.

 

The shirt is a repo, but the overseas cap is authentic 1918, issued to a CCC man and adorned by its owner with a pine tree logo patch. The OD33 slacks are original, 1935 manufacture and issued to a South Dakota enrollee. And the check jacket you are well acquainted with. The suitcase was my grandfather's.

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