In 1938 Lou went to try to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). He had problems getting in because applicants were required to be at least 18, but Duva was only 16 years old when he applied to join. He went and changed his birth certificate and all his personal information and they accepted him, thinking that he had been born two years earlier, in 1920. The CCC sent him to Boise, Idaho, and then to Walla Walla, Washington, where he learned to drive trucks.