Excerpts from the interview given by Paul DiGirolamo, 2 November 2002

Interviewer: How did you hear about the CCC to begin with?

DiGirolamo:  Well, my older brother was in. He was in six months. And he was up in Montana. So when he came back out, why I took a chance at it. That's how I got in it.

Interviewer: So did his money, his $25 dollars a month--

DiGirolamo:  All our money went to our families, all except five dollars. We'd get thirty dollars a month, twenty-five dollars went home, and we had five dollars for ourselves.  

Interviewer: before you joined, how did that twenty-five dollars help your family? Did it help a lot?

DiGirolamo:  Oh, yes! Tremendous, paid quite a few bills. Yeah. At that time, that money, you know, you could buy a lot of stuff with twenty-five dollars. I remember when I used to go to the grocery store with mother, heck with twenty-five dollars a four-wheeled wagon would just be loaded up with goodies. (Laughs) Now you can't do that. 

Interviewer: So he must have been one of the first ones in the CCC?

DiGirolamo: I believe he was, I believe he was. I came in thirty-nine, right after they started, what, thirty-eight?

Interviewer: What did your family think of the New Deal, and president Roosevelt?

DiGirolamo:  Oh, that thought he was God. They really liked him. He was a great man. I think he was a great man, too. 

Interviewer:  Do you remember hearing him on the radio?

DiGirolamo: Nope. Well, in fact, I saw him in person. When I joined the Navy, I was aboard a battleship. And we was down in the Caribbean, going into San Juan Puerto Rico, and he was on the cruiser Indianapolis, and I was on the battleship Arkansas. We all had to stand man that rails and uniforms, and stand attention while we all came in. Then they anchored. The President of Puerto Rico came over and went aboard, and he was there mostly all day. Then we were relieved, and told to do whatever we wanted to do. So we left attention and walked around….That was something.