Soldiers' Rewards

Army men learned without surprise last week that Lieut. General Lesley McNair --who served his country for 40 years, fought in two wars, trained an army of some 7,000,000 men and died on a French battlefield at the age of 61--had left an estate of $2,720.

The only U.S. generals who have died wealthy have found wealth on the outside--like George Washington, who was rich in land, goods and slaves, or General John McClellan, who was president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Co., or General Nelson A. Miles, who married money. Most of the makers of U.S. military history have died just one jump ahead of poverty.

General Winfield Scott died poor. General U.S. Grant lost his modest stake in a deal with a crooked partner, pledged sabers and other mementos to raise cash and was only able to recoup by writing his memoirs.

General William Tecumseh Sherman left a bitter record of a professional soldier's everlasting struggle to make ends meet. When he was a lieutenant he wrote: "Had it not been for the $1,500 I had made in the store at Coloma [Calif.], I could not have lived through the winter." Sherman resigned and even when the Civil War broke out hesitated to go in again because "I did not and will not volunteer for three months because I cannot throw my family on the cold charity of the world."

What Price Stars? Today commissioned officers graduate from the service academies as 2nd lieutenants or ensigns with a total income of about $2,595 a year (a little more if they have dependents). The best that most West Point graduates can hope for is to become brigadier generals after 30-odd years. (Number of brigadiers in the U.S. just before the war: 45.) With dependents they will then have an income of around $8,000 a year.

For the few who reach higher permanent rank (in 1941 there were only 21 active major generals, six lieutenant generals, one full general) the income with allowances for dependents is around $10,000. Flying pay, parachute pay, foreign-service pay boost these salaries. War creates more temporary high ranks. But the military careerist, whose peacetime responsibilities should be large and whose wartime responsibilities may be awesome, can expect only to die poor.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.