# How were soldiers, sailors, etc, paid during WW2? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846 "2013-12-20T20:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/41 "2013-12-23T00:36:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > To be fair, wouldn’t we have to consider all of Germany – both East & West? > > East Germany was much the poorer, more rural, less industrial part – they took much longer to recover. On average, Germany probably lagged behind Britain until the 1990’s I’d guess. Yes, but they were run by G-dless Commies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/42 "2013-12-23T01:57:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Rationing of food continued in Britain for **nine years** after the end of WW2 If you have ever read Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, you may notice that Fleming goes into great detail describing the gourmet meals that Bond enjoys. To Fleming’s middle-class and working-class readers, those meals were as lurid a fantasy as the beautiful women, the fast cars, and the picturesque locations. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/43 "2013-12-23T02:55:33Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > If you have ever read Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, you may notice that Fleming goes into great detail describing the gourmet meals that Bond enjoys. To Fleming’s middle-class and working-class readers, those meals were as lurid a fantasy as the beautiful women, the fast cars, and the picturesque locations. I recall caviar on squares of toast. Len Deighton never wrote any about rationing. Too busy sticking drill bits into commies, I guess. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/44 "2013-12-23T09:29:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > To be fair, wouldn’t we have to consider all of Germany – both East & West? > > East Germany was much the poorer, more rural, less industrial part – they took much longer to recover. On average, Germany probably lagged behind Britain until the 1990’s I’d guess. I don’t think lumping together the two Germanies would make much sense for that sort of comparison. They were two different states (I know, legally it took a long while for West Germany to recognise the East as a state in its own right, and even then only half-heartedly - but for all practical purposes, they _were_ different states) with different economic systems, being allied with two opposing military alliances. West Germany integrated itself into the Western economic system, the East didn’t. Lumping the two together would make as much sense as lumping together the UK and Ireland - you wouldn’t, they’re simply two different countries. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/45 "2013-12-24T19:39:10Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Doing a little bit of searching. > > WWII cost the USA roughly $288 billion dollars in then-dollars. > The US raised $185 billion of that through War Bond sales. Two previous threads that may be of interest: > **[WWII where did the US borrow $](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=521319)** > > Did the US borrow money from other nations to finance Defense spending in WWII? If so from what nations? I know there was war bond drives to get support by civilians. There was a movie, ( I know dubious source ), no too long ago that said... > **[U.S. nearly bankrupt at end of WW2, sez "Flags of our Fathers"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=396952)** > > Just saw Clint Eastwood’s recent Iwo Jima movie, “Flags of Our Fathers.” It wants to be the Pacific War’s version of “Saving Private Ryan,” but fails, alas. Jumpy editing, and it’s hard to differentiate between the soldiers, for starters. In one... ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846/46 "2013-12-24T21:01:26Z")
Pay parades of the type described above were occasionally done into the 1980’s, particularly if you were on some exercise abroad and were going to be paid in the local currency. But by then people normally had their money paid into their bank account. There was never any shortage of money to pay soldiers, though sometimes they would be paid in military scrip that was not convertible into the local economy. As well as Lend-Lease aid we had a Billion Dollar Gift from Canada (largely forgotten today). We had a third more than West Germany in Marshall Aid, and spent most of it propping up the sterling area. Inflation doesn’t take off if there aren’t any goods to spend it on, and prices are largely government controlled. People were strongly encouraged to save money rather than spend, often by buying War Savings Certificates. Other loans such as ‘Wings For Victory’ were pushed as well. In the First War many countries urged their populations to subscribe to War Loans or National Defense Loans or one sort or another; the losers lost everything at the end of the war. The British 1917 War Loan paid 5%; by 1931 this was well above market rate and the Treasury announced a forced conversion, which technically did not amount to a default, as the stockholders could opt to be repaid at par. The Treasury urged investors to send back these stocks in exchange for an undated stock paying 3.5%, as a patriotic gesture to help the country in its financial difficulties. There were some short-term financial incentives to give people a nudge, but essentially it was sold as a ‘noble sacrifice’ . The principal was to be repaid “when the Chancellor deems it to be in the national interest”. That happy day has yet to arrive, and the many people who took this deal have long since departed this world without their money back. By the 1990s £100-worth of War Loan was discounted on the market to £33. In recent years, the possibility of Britain joining the euro reawakened interest in War Loan, as the Treasury would have to repay this, and any other sterling loans, first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-soldiers-sailors-etc-paid-during-ww2/676846.md?page=2)