POW pay?

[wingisland]

I know this is probably completely off topic but i was just reading about John McCain's experiences in Vietnam and was wondering, when military personel are captured do they still recieve pay, or maybe even some form of bonus pay?

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

With the new rules and regs with regards to "bean stealer's" it will depend on whether you live in or live out prior to capture, as you can bet your bottom dollar that some blunt f@cker or JPA itself will no doubt invoke food and accom charges....... so no bonus me thinks:rolleyes:

[BluntM8]

I understand that the correct procedure requires you to initiate a formal Cell/Cage Grading Process within 28 days of your capture. A JPA Qualified assessor must then make a formal assessment visit within a period of 90 days for the purpose of ascertaining the relevant charges and allowances relating to your captivity. This process may be foreshortened by the use of appropriate JPA Self-assessment pro-formas, provided your captors are able to supply proof of your status, details of the accommodation provided and a daily breakdown of charges levied against you. Following reciept of this paperwork, your pay will be adjusted accordingly to reflect your newfound status as an infidel pig. Any discrepencies arising will be adjusted in the next pay run following your return to unit, should that occur.

Or something.

If you can keep your head, my son, when all around you are speaking arabic into a video camera...

[Safety_Helmut]

probably best to ask the Navy that one, I would start with HMS Cornwall !

[Riskman]

I seem to recall in Gulf 1 that one of the Bruggen pilots' pay was stopped the minute he was declared missing. Don't know what the rules are now but I guess SFFP isn't far off the mark.

[NutLoose]

So if they allow you one phone call, phone up JPA and book some leave......

[L J R]

Unless I am mistaken, the USAF still has a MIA on the pay book, and has over the years promoted the MIA Lieutenant to Full Colonel over the last 40 years. I understand this is to keep his case (and therefore the whole MIA thing) open.

I believe his wife gets the money......

could be wrong, or it could be no longer a fact...

[Dan Winterland]

A mate of mine had his pay stopped on being reported missing as well. No one knew he was alive until the prisoners were relaeased at the end of the war. He got back pay, but most of it was blown in the party I gather!

Still had to pay tax though :(

[Pontius Navigator]

QRs used to state that pay ceased on being missing and I think only some pay was restored when you were reported as being a POW. there was then a presumption that food, subsistence and pocket money pay would be issued by the detaining power.

That worked to a point when the detaining power abided by the rules.

In GW 1 the MIA pay stopped immediately however I believe there was a rapid revision of this when it was realise dwhat hardship it caused and compounded for a family.

[Biggles225]

I have a great uncle who at 94 is still mortally offended and less than happy that his pay was docked while he was a Japanese POW for 3 years. He says the government not only paid the Japanese to 'look after' him but also took it out of his pay. He did however get a one rank promotion after liberation, which didnt help when most of his friends still alive were at least Wing Commander.
I dont suppose anything will have changed! :rolleyes:

[sunshine band]

Slightly on topic, but I was watching a programme about the Titanic the other night. The crew stopped being paid from the moment the ship sunk... No ship= no job seemingly? When we get rid of a ship/ aircraft/ etc, when will someone think that this is an idea the military will adopt???:=

SB

[Melchett01]

In a moment of total boredom, I thought I'd have a look to see what the regs were:

If you are missing but not AWOL and death cannot be verified as per the criteria in the appropriate JSP (and I thought it was only a doctor who could declare you to have snuffed it!) they will pay you for 13 weeks or until they work out where you are / if you're still alive. At the end of that period, they review it and can continue to pay you in 13 week chunks until they work out what has happened to you.

If they think you've snuffed it, then all pay stops from the next day, and the relevant pension payments kick in. However, if you subsequently turn up again, then they will re-start your pay and back date it to the date that it was stopped.

Right, that's my one useful contribution to the defence of the realm for today, back to being bored!

[Beatriz Fontana]

If they think you've snuffed it, then all pay stops from the next day, and the relevant pension payments kick in. However, if you subsequently turn up again, then they will re-start your pay and back date it to the date that it was stopped.

That's assuming your details weren't on the lost hard drive... :}

[Yamagata ken]

Fwiw, my father-out-law (an ex-clerk in the Japanese army) received 100,000 Yen for his three years as a slave labourer in Siberia (1945-1948). The money came through this year.

Take 2 zeroes off if you want an approximate dollar value.

[Wader2]

RAF Officers QR 2668, airmen 2679.

[Riskman]

Pontius said;
In GW 1 the MIA pay stopped immediately however I believe there was a rapid revision of this when it was realise dwhat hardship it caused and compounded for a family.
Absolutely correct. Not sure if it was 'presentational issues' or common sense and humanity that prevailed.

At about the same time a certain Airship (who later got caught with his trousers down) told a wives briefing how good our 12% pay rise was and was told by a 'wife of' that 12% of his pay might be good but 12% of f:mad:-all was still f:mad:-all. :D

[wingisland]

Anyone know more about WW2 POW pay, again if you were captured at dunkirk and released at the end thats an awful lot of back pay coming your way!

[Riskman]

Google it.

This chap apparently got £75 for 5 years on the Burma Railway as a POW. That would have been after 10% accomodation and ration allowance and income tax deducted.

BBC - WW2 People's War - Adventures of a Far East Prisoner of War - Part Two (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/66/a7989466.shtml)

An awful lot of money - not!

[MightyGem]

The crew stopped being paid from the moment the ship sunk... No ship= no job seemingly?
Yes, it was the same for merchant seaman during WW2.

[Pontius Navigator]

Wingisland, not really. See above. 5 years of f*** all back pay is still f*** all.

MightyGem,

True. My old man was sunk by a Japanese submarine. After being rescued and taken back to Java they were almost abandoned to their fate. Evacuation was women and children followed by military followed by male civilians as the latter would only be interned.

Anyway he and his 3rd mate got out and got themselves jobs in Oz. One sowing mail bags, the other treading grapes. When the blisters got too bad they swapped jobs.

He got a job on Blue Funnel to the USA and somehow fetched up in New York. He then got another job to sail home before rejoining his original company.

By chance we saw him on a short film clip shown at the end of the BBC series of War at Sea 12 years or so ago. It was an add on episode for the merchant navy. It was the labour office, packed with seamen trying to get a ship. Either Greenock or Halifax. Suddenly the crowd split apart and my old man, all 5 ft 6, swept in to the centre. :)

Only getting paid for signing on was some incentive. His pay on the ship that was sunk was a massive £21/11/7 per month as 2nd Mate. A 21 year old AB got 3/6 per week.