Hi There is a term in a WW2 officers service record that I am having difficulty understanding and wonder if anyone can help? The officer had served in the ranks and was wounded in WW1 and by the start of Ww2 he was working as a civil servant in the War Office, believed in accountancy. He was called back into the Army aged 44 and was commissioned in the General List W.E.F. from 28/07/1943, but his entry in the London Gazette dated 24/09/43 states that he was "to be a 2nd Lt. without pay and allowances from Army Funds". His service record states that he was subsequently appointed as an Unpaid Acting Captain - "not remunerated from Army Funds". He went on to serve on the Financial Advisers staff at GHQ MEF in Cairo from 30/08/1943 until around 04/08/1945 and then in the same role in Palestine until 10/09/46. So my question is, how was he paid for the time he was serving in the Army, if not out of army funds? Might it be that as he worked at the War Office pre war, he may still have been employed and paid by them to do a similar job in the Army? Also, as he served in Palestine, would he have been entitled to the General Service Medal with Palestine Clasp? Yet another confusing entry in a service record! Thanks and best regards Mike
I would suggest, that as he was already working as a civil servant in the War Office, that he could have been “seconded” from the Civil Service - War Office to the Ministry of Defence (or Army) and that he continued to be paid by the Civil Service. This is common (and still is) in Canada. I was working for the Department of National Defence (on an Army base) as a civil servant (I was in Instructor at the Military Engineer School) and my DND position became redundant in downsizing……so I went to work for another Government Department (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), again as a civil servant…….but until all the official paperwork went thru (it took over a year) I was PAID by the RCMP BUT then they sent a “invoice” to the Department of National Defence (DND) to recover the funds…….so “officially” I continued to be paid by DND. This is all about “red tape” and who pays for what inside governments. My suggestion only, do NOT know if this is correct within the British Government (but I strongly suspect it is)
Hi Thank you for your help- I feel that you may be right it certainly makes sense and gives me another avenue of enquiry. Best regards Mike
