Payment
.
In June 1942, the salary of Army and Navy
Nurses was increased from $70 to $90 basic pay per month. It was the first
time that nurses received more pay than some of the corpsmen they were
teaching (the base pay of a Pharmacist’s Mate, third class was $78, while
a Chief Pharmacist’s Mate earned $138.00 per month).
.
Finally in December 1942, the payment of nurses
was adapted to the same amount paid to Navy officers. Nurses in the relative
rank of Ensign received $150 per month with full maintenance for the first
three years. The pay rates were increased throughout the war.
.
Pay Table
.
| (Relative) Rank |
Monthly Pay |
Subsistence |
Rental |
| Captain |
$ 333.33 |
$ 21.00 |
$ 105.00 |
| Commander |
$ 291.61 |
$ 21.00 |
$ 105.00 |
| Lt.-Commander |
$ 250.00 |
$ 21.00 |
$ 90.00 |
| Lt. (Senior Grade) |
$ 200.00 |
$ 21.00 |
$ 75.00 |
| Lt. (Junior Grade) |
$ 166.67 |
$ 21.00 |
$ 60.00 |
| Ensign |
$ 150.00 |
$ 20.00 |
$ 45.00 |
.
Navy Lingo
.
| Like all naval personnel, the Navy Nurses
had to become acquainted with typical Navy Lingo. No other service spoke
and still speaks in such traditional code. For example, some archaic English
words remained common in naval jargon, such as "aye" (the common English
word for "Yes" until the 16th century).
Beneath all land-lubbers
will find some useful clarifications:
|
The primary rule of Navy code is never to call
a ship a "boat". A boat is carried on a ship, buster, and don't
you forget it.
It's not a rope, it's a line. Its not
a wall, it's a bulkhead. Even if you are not quarted on dry land,
it is still a bulkhead. You walk on a deck, not a floor,
and you clean the same with a swab, not a mop. Above is the overhead,
not the ceiling, and you walk down the passageway, not the hallway.
You open a hatch, not a door, and you
don't go up the stairs, you climb the ladder. Ahead of you is forward,
and to the rear is aft. Right is starboard, and left is port.
You don't go to the bathroom, you go to the
head. Sailors eat in a chow hall where spinach is sea weed
andketchup
is read lead. Scuttlebutt is Navy rumor.
A Navy ship doesn't get torpeadoed by the
enemy, it "takes a fish.". If your're ailing, report to the sick
bay where Navy Nurses, hospital corpsmen and Navy medical officers
will take care of you. Should your ship sink or your plane go down, you're
in
the drink. If you don't survive, you deep-sixed it.
Navy code is not kind to other services. Soldiers
are dogfaces, Marines are bellhops, and Coast Gaurd are freshwaters.
... take care that everything is shipshape!
.
Parts of these helpful insights
in Navy Lingo were copied form an article by Blackie Sherrod printed in
the newsletter from the Dallas Morning News/Thursday, August 28, 1997.
.
.
[ I. Development ]
[ II. Facts about the NNC ] [ III. Uniforms
] [ IV. Sources
]
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