[J.Stein]

In 1940, an Army buck private's pay was $21 per month, but was soon increased. Was surprised to find the earlier pay rates shown were as high as they were. The hourly civilian wage during WWI must have been very low, so Army pay, plus room and board, wasn't all that bad for a lot of the ranks.

They even had a song about it "Twenty-one Dollars A Day...Once a Month"

It was well before WWII, but my grandmother said that grandpa got a job with the school board making "a dollar a day" before they got married, and she thought that was a whole bunch of money for a newlywed couple (in addition to his farm of course...every decent family had a farm). :thumbsup: