Called to Serve at Home
Sturgis Durgin & Civilian Defense in West Forks – December 1941
Only twelve days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a man in West Forks received an official appointment that brought the newly declared war directly into the life of his small Maine community.
On December 19, 1941, Maine Governor Sumner Sewall appointed Sturgis Durgin of West Forks as Municipal Chairman of the Maine Civilian Defense Council.
The large certificate bearing the seal of the State of Maine survives as a remarkable piece of local history from the opening days of America’s involvement in World War II.
It is more than an impressive government document.
It records the moment when a resident of West Forks was formally entrusted with helping his community prepare for the uncertainties of wartime.
AN APPOINTMENT FROM THE GOVERNOR
The document begins beneath the ornate words:
STATE OF MAINE — CIVILIAN DEFENSE COUNCIL
It is addressed directly to:
MR. STURGIS DURGIN
of
WEST FORKS
Governor Sumner Sewall’s appointment states that it was made while:
“Reposing special trust and confidence in your ability, fidelity, and patriotism…”
Sturgis Durgin was then formally appointed:
MUNICIPAL CHAIRMAN
of the Maine Civilian Defense Council.
The certificate directed him to serve during the pleasure of the governor and to follow lawful orders and directions issued through the state’s civilian defense organization.
At the bottom is the date:
December 19, 1941
along with the signature of Governor Sumner Sewall and the large blue state seal.
TWELVE DAYS AFTER PEARL HARBOR
The timing gives this document much of its historical significance.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States entered World War II the following day. By December 19, when Sturgis Durgin received this appointment, the country had been at war for less than two weeks.
For Americans living in large cities, coastal communities, farming towns, and isolated villages alike, the change was immediate. The war was no longer something happening across an ocean.
It had become a national emergency reaching into communities throughout Maine—including West Forks.
WHAT WAS CIVILIAN DEFENSE?
Civilian defense was built around a simple but urgent idea:
Communities had to be prepared to protect and organize themselves during wartime.
Military forces were responsible for fighting the war, but countless responsibilities remained at home.
Civilian defense organizations helped communities prepare for emergencies and coordinate local responses if they became necessary.
Depending upon the community and circumstances, civilian defense efforts could involve:
- emergency preparedness
- communications
- fire protection
- first aid
- organizing volunteers
- public safety
- blackout preparations
- air-raid precautions
- transportation assistance
- protection of important facilities
- coordination with state authorities
Not every Maine town faced the same risks.
But every community needed people who could take responsibility locally if instructions or an emergency came.
WHY A MUNICIPAL CHAIRMAN MATTERED
A statewide defense program could only work if there were people in individual towns willing to organize it. That was the role represented by this appointment.
As Municipal Chairman, Sturgis Durgin stood between the statewide Civilian Defense Council and the people of West Forks. The title carried a practical responsibility.
- Instructions coming from Augusta had to reach local communities.
- Local volunteers had to be organized.
- Plans had to make sense for the particular needs of the town.
- And if an emergency occurred, someone needed to know who was responsible for what.
In a small rural community, those duties could not simply disappear into a large municipal bureaucracy.
Someone had to take responsibility.
In West Forks, one of those people was Sturgis Durgin.
WEST FORKS GOES TO WAR
World War II is often remembered through battlefields, ships, aircraft, military units, and the men and women who served overseas.
But the war also transformed life at home.
Even a small community surrounded by the Maine woods became part of the national effort. Families watched sons, brothers, husbands, and neighbors leave for military service.
People dealt with shortages and rationing. Businesses adapted. Residents participated in bond drives, scrap collections, volunteer programs, and other wartime activities. Communities prepared for dangers that might never arrive but could no longer be dismissed as impossible.
West Forks was geographically distant from Pearl Harbor and the battlefields of Europe.
It was not distant from the war.
THE MAINE WOODS IN A TIME OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY
West Forks occupied a very different world from Maine’s larger cities.
The community sat among the forests and waterways of the upper Kennebec region, surrounded by the Dead River, Kennebec River, logging country, camps, and scattered settlements.
That isolation created its own challenges.
Communication could be slower. Travel could be difficult, particularly during a Maine winter. People often depended heavily upon neighbors and local knowledge.
Those characteristics also made community organization particularly important.
If something happened, residents could not assume immediate assistance would arrive from a large nearby city.
Local preparedness mattered.
And civilian defense depended upon trusted local residents who understood the community they were being asked to serve.
“ABILITY, FIDELITY & PATRIOTISM”
One phrase on the certificate deserves special attention.
Governor Sewall states that the appointment was made with:
“special trust and confidence in your ability, fidelity, and patriotism.”
Government certificates often used formal language, but those words carried unusual weight in December 1941.
The country had just entered a global war. No one knew how long it would last. No one knew exactly what dangers American communities might face.
And no one knew what sacrifices would eventually be demanded.
For Sturgis Durgin, the document represented an official declaration that the governor of Maine was entrusting him with responsibility for his community during that uncertainty.
LOOK CLOSELY AT THE CERTIFICATE
The physical document itself is worth examining.
At the top is the ornate State of Maine heading surrounding the state coat of arms. Beneath it, the words Civilian Defense Council sweep across the page in elaborate lettering.
The formal typography gives way to typewritten information identifying:
Mr. Sturgis Durgin
and
West Forks
Farther down appears the appointment as Municipal Chairman. At the bottom, the surviving blue seal immediately catches the eye. Nearby is the governor’s signature.
It looks ceremonial because it was ceremonial.
This was an official commission from the governor of Maine during one of the most consequential moments in American history.
A LOCAL DOCUMENT WITH A NATIONAL STORY
One of the most valuable things about documents like this is the way they connect different scales of history.
- National History – The United States had just entered World War II.
- Maine History – The state was organizing civilian defense and preparing communities for wartime emergencies.
- West Forks History – The statewide effort required someone locally to take responsibility.
- Durgin Family History – That person was Sturgis Durgin.
All four stories meet on this single sheet of paper.
HISTORY DID NOT ONLY HAPPEN SOMEWHERE ELSE
It can be easy to imagine major historical events as things that happened in Washington, Europe, the Pacific, or Maine’s larger cities.
Documents like this show otherwise.
- History arrived in small towns too.
- It arrived through letters.
- Orders.
- Military notices.
- Ration books.
- Newspaper headlines.
- Appointments.
And government certificates bearing names that local families still recognize generations later.
On December 19, 1941, one of those documents arrived with the name:
STURGIS DURGIN – WEST FORKS
The war was less than two weeks old for the United States.
West Forks was already being asked to do its part.
PRESERVING A PIECE OF WEST FORKS’ WORLD WAR II HISTORY
More than eighty years later, the certificate remains remarkably tangible.
- The paper has aged.
- Its creases and marks reveal the passage of time.
- But the typewritten name is still visible.
- The state seal remains attached.
- The governor’s signature survives.
And the purpose of the document remains unmistakable.
Sturgis Durgin had been entrusted with helping prepare West Forks for wartime.
That makes this more than a family keepsake.
It is a surviving record of how World War II reached into one small community in the Maine woods during the extraordinary days of December 1941.
FROM THE DURGIN HILL ARCHIVES
DurginHill.com preserves photographs, documents, family records, and local stories connected to Durgin Hill, West Forks, The Forks, the Dead River, the Kennebec River, and the generations who lived and worked in the Maine woods.
This appointment preserves one particular moment when family history, West Forks history, Maine history, and American history became part of the same story.
December 19, 1941.
Sturgis Durgin.
Municipal Chairman of the Maine Civilian Defense Council.
A small Maine community preparing to serve during a world at war.