Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/58

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 Legtsatfog During the War Years to military personnel and death gratuities to dependents of components of the Army of the United States other than Regular Army personnel. On 10 December 1941 Con- gress amended the Act of April 3, 1939 m order to extend to the dependents of mili- tary personnel other than members of the Regular Army the death benefits pad to the widows, children, or other demgnated de- pendents of Regular Army personnel who dmd of wounds or disease not the result of their own nnsconduct3 a As previously noted, the Act of Septem- ber 26, 1941 prowdeal that Reserve officers called mto active mihtary serwce m excess of 30 days on or after 28 February 1925 (service in the CivLlian Conservation Corps being excepted) were to receive the same retirement pay and hospital benefits as those received by officers of the regular army when disabled by disease o' injury contracted in the hne o duty  These acts placed all Air Corps personnel on an cquaI basis n receiving dsabihty and death gratmtms. After the United States entered the war Congress enacted legislation providing for payments to the dependents of serwcemen. The Sermcemen's Dependents and Allow- ances Act of June 23, 1942 prowdcd specific family allowances for dependents of on- hated men m the fourth through the seventh pay grades ol the Army, Navy, Ms- rmes, and Coast Guard for the duration of the war and six months thereafter s Al- though this measure covered naval aviation cadet, who were classified as enlisted men of the fourth grade by the Naval Awaton Cadet Act passed subsequent to the passage of the above-mentmned legislation, it did not cover cadets o! the AAF. True discrumi- nation appeared to be inadvertent, however, and m September 1943 the AAF began a study to determine how the law mght be amended in order to secure these benefits or ts cadets. Finally trns purpose was achieved by an amendment to a bali maned by the Pzesdent on 20 October 1943. Now all Air Corps personnel were ncluded m the ]egmlative provimons for dependents' bene- fits.  At the same hme the AAF continued to study the advisabfity of amending the Army Awahon Cadet Act so as to provide for aviation cadets the same pay, allow- ances, and benefits as authomzed for on- hated men n the fourth pay grade. This change would have the effect of raismg the pay of awahon cadets. It was proposed that amendments for thin purpose be added to HR. 2765 and . 1106, bills winch had bee introduced in Congress at the request of the War Department m order to remove the dscmmination which existed between .Mr Corps Reserve officers and men corn~ mssoned or appomted under the Fhght Officer Act n the payment of the $500 yearly bonus for extended active duty of one year or longer. The latter group, hayrag been commmmoned directly as second heu- tenants or appointed as fight officers in the Army oi the United States, were not ehgble for the bonus given to Air Corps Reserve officers at the end of a tour of ex- tended active duty of one year or longer. The b11s in questran would remove ths dis- crimination by prowdrag that the service of Reserve officers during the remainder of the war should not be counted in comput- ing theh' lump-sum-payments. The effort to rame the pay of awaton cadets seems to have been dropped, but S. 1106 was favorably reported by the Senate Committee on Mlhtary Affairs on 27 May 943. It was debated but dxd not come to a vote. H R 2765 never got out of commit- tee. Efforts to secure the desired legslahon m 1944 and 1945 faxled, and up to 1 Decem- ber 1945 no actran was secured on such measures by the AAF so The personnel composltxon of the Army and of the AAF was greatly changed by the passage in 1942 of "An Act to establh a Women's Army Auxxliary Corps or service vmth the Amy of the Urnted States." By ths legslatmn not over 150,000 women were to be enrolled for noncombatant setwee wth the Army of the United States.  By an. other act, approved 1 July 1943, the WAAC was reconstituted as the Women's Army Corps for serwce n (rather than wth) the Army of the T2mted States ' Thousands of these women were detailed for service in the AAF as clerks, technicians of various THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958