LETTER: CCC article brought back great memories

To the editor:

I believe I am one of the fortunate ones to have received the very first issue of Charleston Currents.  While I always learn something new, never has an article resonated as much as the one on the Civilian Conservation Corps.

My father, Art Goldsmith, was a recent high school graduate living in Collinsville, Okla., when the Dust Bowl hit.  The family dry goods store wasn’t very successful to begin with; it quickly went downhill.  There was no future for a healthy young man other than to go into the CCC and send money back home.

For my father, the camp was in Arkansas.  Like so many faced with unpleasant situations and difficult choices, he never spoke about his experiences. He just did what he had to do.  Nonetheless, it is easy to imagine his projects paralleled those in South Carolina. Undoubtedly the Arkansas park system, roads and trails, fire towers, and reforestation projects have men like my father to thank.

My father worked his way through Arkansas and back to Chicago where he had been born.  There was still family living there and a greater chance for employment.  As a bonus, he would find his future wife and settle to raise his family.  But the CCC was an integral part of his life and became part of my legacy.

Among my favorite hats is the one he wore as a member of the Corps and the one he wore as a Jewish war veteran.  He was a genuine product of his times and member of the greatest generation.

— His proud daughter, Archie Burkel, James Island

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