Chapter XXVI._The United States Marine Corps in the World War

PAYMASTER’S DEPARTMENT.

Brig. Gen. George Richards was the Paymaster of the United States

Marine Corps, stationed at Headquarters, during the entire period of

the war.

STRENGTH AND DISTRIBUTION.

The commissioned, warranted, appointed, and enlisted personnel of the

paymaster’s department, at the beginning of the war, consisted of:

Permanent commissioned paymasters 6

Officers of the grade of captain detailed for four years 3

Officers appointed as special disbursing agents under Revised

Statutes 3614 4

Permanent pay clerks 9

Civil force 3

Enlisted men 51

Total force 76

The above force was distributed as shown in the following table:

Key for column headings:

PC = Pay clerks.

QS = Quartermaster sergeants.

S = Sergeants.

C = Corporals.

P = Privates.

T = Total.

and lieut. = lieutenant.

---------------------+---------------------------------------------------

| Personnel attached.

Pay stations. +--------------------+------+----+----+----+----+---

| Number and rank | PC | QS | S | C | P | T

---------------------+--------------------+------+----+----+----+----+---

| | | | | | |

Headquarters, |1 brigadier general;|} 4 |} 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 28

Washington, D. C. | 1 lieut. colonel; |}[7]3 |} | | | |

| 1 major; |} | | | | |

| 1 first lieut. |} | | | | |

San Francisco, Calif.|1 major | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7

New York, N. Y. |1 captain | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 14

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Peking, China |1 captain[8] | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2

Virgin Islands | do.(2) | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2

Port au Prince, Haiti|1 first lieut. | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5

Cape Haitien, Haiti |1 captain(2) | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 3

Santo Domingo, |1 captain | 1 | 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 4

Santiago, Dominican | do. | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | 3 | 8

Managua, Nicaragua |1 second lieut.(2) | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2

Unassigned | | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1

+--------------------+------+----+----+----+----+---

Total | 13 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 76

---------------------+--------------------+------+----+----+----+----+---

[7] Civil.

[8] Special disbursing agent.

The commissioned force of the paymasters department reached a maximum

strength of 47 officers, including special disbursing agents, when

the latest detail to the department from the line was made, and as

then constituted, consisted of:

Permanently commissioned paymasters 5

Officers detailed from the prewar line 9

Temporary officers (eight former pay clerks and four

temporary line officers) 12

Officers of the reserve force 16

Officers appointed as special disbursing agents 5

Permanent pay clerk 1

Temporary pay clerks 58

Pay clerks of the reserve force 6

Enlisted men 501

---

Total authorized force 613

The above force which was the maximum authorized complement of the

paymaster’s department, was distributed as follows:

Key for column headings:

PC = Pay clerks.

QS = Quartermaster sergeants.

S = Sergeants.

C = Corporals.

P1C = Privates, first class.

P = Privates.

T = Total.

and brig. gen.= brigadier general.

and lieut. col. = lieutenant colonel.

----------------------+---------------------------------------------------

| Number and rank| PC | QS | S | C | P1C| P | T

----------------------+----------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

| | | | | | | |

Headquarters,[9] |1 brig. gen., | 22 | 27 | 37 | 55 | 22 | 67 | 240

New York, N. Y. |2 majors, | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 30

May, 1908). | | | | | | | |

Philadelphia, Pa. |1 colonel, | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 14

May, 1917). | | | | | | | |

Quantico, Va. |1 lieut. col. | 4 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 45

Atlanta, Ga. |1 captain | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 22

San Francisco, Calif. | do. | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | .. | 3 | 14

| | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

Expeditionary Forces |4 majors, | 20 | 34 | 34 | 31 | 9 | 39 | 183

Seventh Regiment, Cuba|1 captain | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | 7

First Regiment, Cuba | do. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | 7

San Domingo, Dominican| do. | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .. | 1 | 8

Santiago, Dominican | do. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | 7

Port au Prince, Haiti |1 special | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | 5

Cape Haitien, Haiti | do. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | 4

St. Thomas, Virgin | do. | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 3

Managua, Nicaragua | do. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2

Peking, China | do. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2

Attached to posts in |1 captain | 4 | 15 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 20

+----------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

Total | 47 | 65 | 102| 98 | 118| 39 | 144| 613

----------------------+----------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

[9] Authorized complement but never filled. Maximum number employed

in paymaster’s office at any time subsequent to Apr. 6, 1917, was

approximately 208 of all grades and ranks.

HOW WAR INCREASES WERE MET.

The enlargement of the paymaster’s department to meet war conditions

at the beginning of the war, and until the enlisted strength was

raised to 75,500, was effected in the following manner:

1. By the temporary appointment and advancement to the grade of

captain, pursuant to act of May 22, 1919, of eight of the permanent

pay clerks of the department.

2. By the temporary advancement of enlisted men of experience and

long service under this department to the grade of pay clerk.

3. The new enlisted clerical personnel was partly obtained from

enlisted men who had previously been employed as pay roll clerks at

shore stations and aboard ships of the Navy, and from men enlisted

and enrolled from civil life with clerical experience outside. The

men obtained were detailed in the regularly established offices,

and there formed into classes for instruction in their duties, the

commissioned officers and senior clerks being used as instructors for

this purpose. In addition to the above, and to the end of creating a

proper spirit and morale, and bringing about a better understanding

throughout the department of its aims and purposes, a series of

lectures by the Paymaster and subordinate officers was delivered

at headquarters, and afterwards published and distributed to the

entire personnel of the department. Later on, in order to meet the

further increased demand for clerical assistance, a school for the

instruction of men in paymaster’s department work was established

at the Marine barracks, Parris Island, S. C. This was, however, in

addition to the system of instruction previously instituted in the

permanently established offices. The school was of considerable value

in that it aided in the selection and assignment of men (recruits)

with previous clerical experience to duty in the paymaster’s

department. The demand for clerks for both home and overseas service,

however, was so great for some time before the close of the war, that

it was not possible at any time to keep the men under instruction

in the school or in the offices for sufficient length of time to

complete the prescribed course that had been laid out for them. As a

consequence, many men had to be sent out with but a meager idea of

the duties they were to perform. The clerical forces of the permanent

offices, therefore, finally became so drained of experienced clerks

and stenographers taken away to supply the demand for expeditionary

and overseas forces that it became necessary to enlist or enroll

women to perform these duties.

MONEY EXPENDED.

The amount of money expended for pay and allowances for each month

from April, 1917, to December, 1918, follows:

--------------+--------------+---------------+--------------

Months. | Officers. | Enlisted men. | Total.

--------------+--------------+---------------+--------------

1917. | | |

April | $143,698.37 | 357,398.60 | 501,094.97

May | 176,742.19 | 413,019.82 | 589,762.01

June | 201,977.79 | 565,677.22 | 767,655.01

July | 220,884.23 | 989,495.53 | 1,210,379.76

August | 280,038.19 | 1,196,082.09 | 1,476,120.28

September | 269,160.66 | 1,137,790.16 | 1,406,950.82

October | 332,859.49 | 1,244,965.55 | 1,577,825.04

November | 378,458.48 | 1,266,138.57 | 1,644,597.05

December | 350,098.46 | 1,353,510.60 | 1,703,609.06

| | |

1918. | | |

January | 328,517.81 | 1,322,724.98 | 1,651,242.79

February | 337,407.35 | 1,441,099.32 | 1,778,506.67

March | 369,298.24 | 1,321,933.64 | 1,691,231.88

April | 373,395.58 | 1,313,210.75 | 1,686,606.33

May | 378,551.77 | 1,815,309.63 | 2,193,861.40

June | 385,042.99 | 1,856,344.35 | 2,241,387.34

July | 441,838.15 | 2,124,134.76 | 2,565,972.91

August | 515,273.26 | 2,436.318.86 | 2,951,592.12

September | 572,721.39 | 2,322,089.79 | 2,894,811.18

October | 522,995.22 | 2,503,312.62 | 3,026,307.84

November | 648,615.69 | 2,597,542.71 | 3,246,158.40

December | 597,142.61 | 2,545,932.41 | 3,143,075.02

+--------------+---------------+--------------

Totals | 7,824,715.92 | 32,124,031.96 | 39,948,747.88

--------------+--------------+---------------+--------------

ADDITIONAL DUTIES DURING WAR.

The duties of the paymaster’s department during the war were

greatly enlarged and made more complicated and difficult: (1) By

reason of the enactment of the war risk insurance act of October

6, 1917. The work connected with family allotments and war risk

insurance created by this act was of such magnitude as to require

the establishment of a separate administrative section under a

commissioned officer to handle the voluminous correspondence, keep

the records, and make proper audit of these items in the accounts

involved. It was also found necessary in order to facilitate the

work of this section, that a liaison group of clerks be kept in the

War Risk Bureau. (2) By reason of the taking over of the payment of

all Marine Corps allotments, as the deputy of the Navy allotment

officer. (3) By reason of the necessity of having to pay many men on

affidavits without proper records; service record books and other

papers pertaining to their accounts having been lost or destroyed by

operation of war or other accidental circumstances. (4) By reason

of the large number of wounded men, some of whom were scattered in

various hospitals throughout France, and others of whom were returned

to the United States without due notice to military authorities, and

sent to both naval, military, and civil hospitals at widely scattered

points throughout the States. In but a few of these cases were there

any records on which full and accurate payments could be made. Hence

a system of emergency, or casual payments, as they were called, was

established both in France and in the United States. The absence of

records in these cases was not the worst feature however, but the

absence of any information whatever, as to the whereabouts of the

men made it at first impossible to locate some of them and effect

regular payments. However, after the first few months’ experience

with the handling of payments to the wounded, a system was devised

by which most of those returning to the States were immediately

reported and prompt payments were thereafter made. A similar system

of emergency or casual payments to wounded men was adopted by the

department in France, but wounded men in France were evacuated so

frequently from one hospital to another, that no system of reporting

was practicable. Each hospital there had to be visited in person by

a paymaster at least once a month and such wounded Marines as were

found, had to be paid on their own representations a sum sufficient

to meet their immediate needs. Under such a system some necessarily

went without pay for some time, while others more fortunate in

meeting a paymaster at frequent intervals, received at times more

money than was properly due them. (5) By reason of the enactment of

February 24, 1919, providing a gratuity of $60 to all persons in the

military and naval forces of the United States, who were discharged

under honorable conditions at any time subsequent to April 6, 1917.

This law necessitated the establishment at headquarters of a claims

section, whose sole duty was to settle the twenty or thirty thousand

supplementary claims created by this act and the act of February 28,

1919, increasing the amount of travel allowance to 5 cents per mile

to all enlisted men discharged subsequent to November 11, 1918.

NEW PAY ROLL.

In addition to the above, it became necessary to adopt a new pay roll

suitable for preparation on the typewriter and so arranged as to make

it adaptable for use as a combination pay and muster roll, should

this be deemed necessary. This roll was prescribed and put into use

in the midst of the war without much confusion, and it is understood

resulted in a saving of much clerical labor to the organization

commanders.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF PAYMASTER, U. S. MARINES, FRANCE.

In obedience to orders dated October 2, 1917, and in compliance with

provisions of G. H. Q. General Orders No. 38(2), September 17, 1917,

the “Office of the Chief Paymaster, U. S. Marines, France,” was

established in Paris, France, on October 5, 1917. Maj. Davis B. Wills

was Chief Paymaster, U. S. Marines, France, from that date until the

office was abolished in August, 1919.