You know I did ask for help and do appreciate those who offered suggestions and yes my asking opened it up to tell me what I did wrong...some I disagree with, the one I totally agree with is I knew Romex was not the wire to run in conduit but also KNOW it will work and hold up, which it did. It was not moisture, it was not the 1/2 conduit that caused the fail, it was not the tree roots that pulled out the ground, it was an excavator bucket. It is amazing how many things that are not per code or local or even federal regulations that have proven to work very well. That conduit has been there for I think 17 years but certain it has for 16 years and the 10 plus feet I see looks as good as the day installed. The conduit was used to protect it from moisture and it did. I realize paper does not hold up to water but for that to be an issue the conduit had to fail as would the outside insulation of the romex itself.
I have seen Romex used in the air with no protection for what ever reason (no idea who installed it just knew what I saw) and it held up for many years. Was that smart, was that per code when done? I have no idea what the code was like in the 60's when the romex was run between two post in the air. I WAS NOT WHO RAN THAT WIRE.
Mine run was very with about 150 basically straight and buried as it should have been with a 90% elbow up out the dirt at each end of the run. I did remove the damaged conduit first before trying to pull the damaged wire out.
Oh on the light side came up with a simple fix...buy the solar power lights as shown on tv...no pulling, no wiring, no conduit and little light. lol