[This entry notes the “political extravagance” of a House bill authorizing a “substantial” pay raise for officers and enlisted men — from $78 to $100 per month in my father’s case. In his tongue-in-check reporting of this “economic blasphemy,” my father allows that he’ll happily accept the government’s largess, warranted or not. He also worriedly contemplates a potential return to Okinawa (an assignment that never materialized).]
April 18, 1946 (Fort Devens, MA)
It is very easy to declaim in an rage against political extravagances wherein public money is appropriated for the undeserved benefit of a special group, – easy, that is, until you find yourself a member of just such a group. A bill just passed by the House authorizes substantial pay raises for all officers and enlisted men in the armed forces. Speaking as one detached from the issue, I will say that ninety-nine percent of all officers and enlisted men are already getting paid more than they are worth. But it happens that I am not really detached. I’m in the Army, with a rating of technician, fourth-grade, and am slated by this bill for a raise in pay from 78 to 100 dollars a month. As a man of principle, I would protest against this economic blasphemy. I would point out that it would take a generous imagination to demonstrate that I have done a month’s productive labor during my last twelve in the service. My own candid conclusion is that my value to the people of the United States, whom I have supposedly been serving during that period, has been practically nil. Yet now the Congress is on the point of giving me a 25% raise, along with all the other jokers still in uniform. I pointed out that as a man of principle I would protest this infamy. As a GI, however, I will gladly accept the extra lettuce.
Of course, a man can claim that he deserves some compensation for mental anguish, even though his anguish may be of no particular benefit to anyone else. I am at present suffering an anguish which would probably bring a rather fancy price in the open market, in the sense that most people would be willing to pay good money to avoid having this particular anguish for themselves. I refer to the fact that I am apparently on the point of shipping back to Okinawa. Come on folks! Step right up! Who’d like to have a nine-month vacation with pay on Okinawa, with transportation both ways paid for by the government? Well, look at the people running. But they’re running with their backs to me, which I take as an indication that no one wants to go to Okinawa, not even those many poor souls who have never had the privilege of visiting that island before. And it’s only because I’ve been there before that I’m willing to offer my opportunity to some less fortunate sucker.
True, my orders don’t say that I’m going to Okinawa, – not yet. They just carry me as far as Fort Lawton in Seattle, and also provide for a seven-day pre-embarkation furlough. I’m not always as stupid as I am sometimes. The boys who stayed behind laughed when I left Okinawa last December. “You’ll be right back here next spring about the time we’re leaving for good,” they said. I laughed back and told them there wasn’t a chance of it. Now I expect to feel slightly embarrassed when I meet a bunch of the old SIAM boys embarking from Machinato Point, just as I am landing there.
Of course, I may ship to Japan.
And the Phillies may win the National League pennant.
Paul Davis Journals Blog 