Camp Wolverine, now and then (Co. 673 near Clarion, MI) 

Sent in by Peggy Saunders

The Holsclaw family sent me the photo of  Fred Holsclaw, but I am not sure where it was taken. Because he served at Ft. Meade, I would say that is a good guess of where the photo was taken and I have indentified thusly. If you wish to not use the location that is fine, but it is pleasing to know we have the name.

Attached is a photo of Fred Holsclaw in the radio shack at HQ at Ft. Meade (Camp Fechner), Sturgis, SD and another radio that was at Pine Creek, Camp SP-1 (S-1) located three miles from Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.

The following is from Lyle Derscheid�s, �The Civilian Conservation Corps in South Dakota, 1933-1942,� published in 1991. It was a limited edition and is out of print. Sadly no names are given in this write up.

Begin quote: Company 1793, Pine Creek, Camp SP-1 (S-1) celebrated June 12, 1933 as the anniversary of its formation. When the camp was built the closest telephone service was 5 miles away in Keystone, SD. Realizing the necessity for some means of communication, two amateur radio operators, on about July 1, 1933, received permission to go to Fort Meade (HQ) and attempt to get some transmitting equipment and arrange a daily radio schedule with the signal corps headquartered at Ft. Mead.

A complete army portable field transmitter was secured and a tri-daily schedule was arranged. Both stations operated on a frequency of 4050 kilocycles, the call in camp being CF8, the one at Ft. Meade, CC8.

The schedules proved very reliable, on a few being missed due to heavy static, especially during the 11 o�clock schedule. The schedules were maintained at 7 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. so that if any message needed a reply it could come back the same day. Daily status reports and work reports were always transmitted during the morning schedule, the two remaining times being used mostly for emergency or for any other matters that came up in the morning.

About a week after the beginning of the operation a similar transmitter was set up at Camp Doran, S-2, Company 1795, east of Custer, SD. and a single morning schedule at 7:30 was maintained with that station. Its call was BM8 and it was operated by a member of the signal corps at Ft. Meade. Camp Doran had an ambulance, and since Company 1793 at Pine Creek did not, the schedule proved invaluable, especially when an ambulance was needed.

After about 2 months the program was discontinued because the signal corps need the equipment for radio training in the army. The two camp operators decided to construct a transmitter and operate it under the call W9LTA. The boys pooled their equipment and had it sent to camp. A transmitter and receiver were constructed, using low power receiving tubes in the transmitter with �B� batteries for power supply. The station made a large number of contacts with amateur radio station in all parts of the US. Station W9LTA was a member of the army amateur radio system in the 7th Corps area, and while no schedules were maintained with Ft. Meade, a large amount of enjoyment was derived from communicating with other amateur operators. End quote.