(CCC statue at Granbrill State Park, Frederick Counnty, Maryland)
"I am over 62 and consider the CCC the happiest period in my life, and I have met others who feel the same. We were disciplined and worked hard during work hours but the government took good care of us, and our free time was a happy association with fine youths. When I went into the CCC, I got my belly filled with the best nourishing food I'd seen in years. I got the first complete outfit of good clothing I had in nearly nine years. I had a fine doctor for the first time in my life and a fine hospital. I got $5 per month and $25 was sent home to help my family who desperately needed it, and I was taught some skills. It is a pity that today's youth can't have the huge Conservation Corps that we had. It would solve youth crime, youth unemployment and benefit the nation, like our forestry work, dams, roads and bridges did in the thirties."
--Manuel R. Martinez, CCC Alumni, in the book, "Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps," by Perry H. Merrill, 1981.
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