War income

[amalan11]

I was wondering if any older posters know this ?? listining to news today the Military people are upset that their pay is being cut.It got me thinking did we pay our men to go and fight in WW1 or WW2   or Vietnam?

I had never really thought about it before ,I guess I just assumed they went for the love of Australia .I guess the families must have had some help as it would be impossible for a wife and children to survive in the absence of the man when women didn't work

can anyone enlighten me

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@amalan11 wrote:

Im glad POW families got helped that must have been awful .In my family no one  went to the war as they were in mining so exempted im told.hope your dad came home ok

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He did, Amalan. He was an armourer with the Tank Regiment (British Army) He was  captured in North Africa and was a PoW first in Italy, then in Germany. I didn't see him till I was 31/2 and I and I still remember vividly the day he came home..

[imastawka]

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@amalan11 wrote:

Pimpy..I wonder what that was worth ? if it was say 5 bob as he calls it  would say 10 bob pay for rent for a week ?

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You can't pay more for rent than you earn.

5 bob was 5 shillings = today 50cents

10 bob was 10 shillings = today $1

When my dad came home from the war, he stayed in the army, as he

was a regular soldier before war was declared.  

His pay was 3 pounds (sorry don't have the pound symbol) that equals $6 today.

[channys_mum]

Soldiers are paid. they don't do well on fresh air alone lol,

When ex was a soldier the pay was split. I would get what was called an allotment which was to cover housekeping etc and he got the rest.

When he was in Vietnam I think he got paid a living away from home allowance also.

I have no idea what the amounts were anymore.

[iapetus_rocks]

The servicemen/women have been offered a 1.5% pay increase per year for three years I believe, but to get it they have to give up six days of their annual paid leave quota.

Anywhere else, that particular enterprise bargaining offer would be met with refusal and threats of strike action. It is a pretty measly offer, isn't it?

[iapetus_rocks]

Oh, and since the current CPI was reported to be around 3%, then the servicepeople face an effective pay cut.

No prizes for guessing who they'll vote for next time.

[lyndal1838]

I can shed a bit of light on the Defence Forces pay.

During WW1 my great uncle went AWOL for 5 days...he was late back from leave in London.  His punishment was loss of 13 days pay which was the grand amount of 3/5/-  or 5/- a day.  Not much compensation when you look at his records....he was in and out of hospital with Trench Fever, Pneumonia, Bronchitis and he was gassed.  His lungs were wrecked and he suffered for the rest of his life.

In WW2 my husband's uncle was the CO of the HMAS Bangalow, a cable laying and lighthouse maintenance vessel.  His records show that he received basic pay of 33/- a day in lieu of leave.  He would have received more while at sea and away from home.

In 1965 my husband was a Leading Electrical Mechanic (an electrician in civilian life) and received a basic 27/4/10 a week while serving ashore. When he went to sea he received a sea-going allowance and another allowance when he went away for 6 months at a time.  Included in the pay was a 2/9 per day uniform allowance and a 9/6 per day (non taxable) marriage allowance.

In each case the wives received an allotment.  In 1966 it had to be at least $30 a fortnight (by this time the pay was in $ and was about $55 a week....so the wife was not entitled to very much.  My OH sent me $50 a week as he had a nice little earner going by selling photographs to his shipmates who never got past the nearest hotel when they were overseas.

I have no idea of the current pay rates....my last experience was with Army pay rates about 15 years ago when son in law was serving.  His basic pay was pretty low but there were plenty of extra allowances which were quite generous.

[katymatey*]

 Funnily enough I found my father's records from the RAF WW11 last saturday. Mum had them and I didn't know they even existed. Mum hasn't got them any more lol. He seems to have received 2 pound 9 pence per fortnight. Geez, bet he went wild on that. He wasn't on overseas service though as he worked as a flight rigger in Aust. He had been employed by Ansett airlines prior to that and seems like it was a protected occupation. Not sure about that. He turned 14 the day war was declared. Just a young fella.

[lyndal1838]

If your father was only 14 when war was declared his pay must have been an apprentice's wage....they always have been low and probably always will be.

[amalan11]

going on Katymatys figures and after much googling and conversion he was earning about $6 a fortnight when bread cost 15 cents a loaf  so if bread is now $3 he got only $120 in todays money....thats realy low even for an apprentice

how interesting though.

Elephant...i cannot imagine how relieved the poor man must have been after being through so much  to finaly get home and see you for the first time

[lyndal1838]

Bread was not 15 cents a loaf during the war.  It was less than that in the 1950s.

I can remmember my mother being very indignant when our bread went up to 1/1 (1 shilling and 1 penny) or 13 cents in todays money.  That would have been in 1954-55 as it was my job to pick up the bread from the local shop after school and I had to break the bad news to her.