Albert F. Kehrer

The West Virginia State Civilian Conservation Corps Museum Association is proud to announce that Albert F. Kehrer was inducted into the West Virginia State CCC Museum Association Hall of Fame during ceremonies conducted at the 2015 Fall CCC Jubilee.

Our Honoree was born at Sistersville, Tyler County, West Virginia on July 31, 1923. As for so many CCC ":Boys," conditions for his family were very very hard. When he decided to join the CCC, his parents agreed. It was a Godsend for the family and changed his life.

Young Albert enlisted and was assigned to a Montana CCC Camp and later to a CCC Camp in Nevada near Boulder City. He stated: “I had never even thought of being sent that far away from home. It was a whole new, life changing experience. They kept us busy doing all kinds of things. I remember working on a big ranch. One of the Boys told me he heard it was a ranch owned by a big cowboy movie star named Rex Bell. Of course, I had never been on a ranch, but found out it was very hard work. We cut loco weed, dressed up the place, and planted a lot of trees, there. We cut walking trails in the mountains around where other Boys were building parks. There was always many projects going on. I was in the CCC from late 1939-1941.”

Upon completion of the CCC, Albert joined the U.S. Navy and served with honor in the Pacific Theater of World War II. “We were part of the battles to free New Guinea and the Philippines and saw a lot of action. I was chief loader of one of the big guns on our battleship. That was hot, hard work, and as you could imagine, very dangerous. One story was we had a rather careless guy assisting in loading the ten inch gun. He constantly got in a hurry in handling the shells. One of the shells he was loading fell off the truck and would have sunk the ship. He got replaced quick.”

After the war, Mr. Kehrer moved to Clarksburg and married his now wife, Dorothy. He retired from City Window Corporation, Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1990. He now resides in Ritchie County, West Virginia. Mr. Kehrer has attended several West Virginia State CCC Museum Association Jubilees.