Captain WILLIAMS. We expect 32 years after completion of flight training.

Mr. BATES. Plus the 18 months?

Captain WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Thank you, Captain.

The next will be H. R. 7706, by Mr. Norrell of Arkansas, a bill to retire members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps retired after 30 years' service to retired pay equal to 75 percent of the monthly basic pay authorized for the highest enlisted, warrant, or commissioned grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I, and for other purposes.

(The bill is as follows:)

[H. R. 7706, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To entitle members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps retired after thirty years' service to retired pay equal to 75 per centum of the monthly basic pay authorized for the highest enlisted, warrant, or commissioned grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That effective April 1, 1955, members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps retired before or after the date of enactment of this Act with thirty years' service (including credit for double time) are entitled to the maximum retired pay now or hereafter provided for the grade in which retired or for the highest enlisted, warrant, or commissioned officer grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I.

SEC. 2. Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps retired before the date of enactment of this Act who were advanced on the retired list to the highest warrant or commissioned grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I but who were restored on their application to their former enlisted grade on the retired list, are entitled to be advanced on the retired list to the highest warrant or commissioned grade in which they satisfactorily served during World War I.

SEC. 3. No person is entitled to retired pay or advancement on the retired list under this Act unless he makes application to the Secretary concerned within one year after the date of enactment of this Act.

Mr. KILDAY. I will submit the following statement: The purpose of this legislation is to entitle members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps retired after 30 years' service to retired pay equal to 75 percent of the monthly basic pay authorized for the highest enlisted, warrant, or commissioned grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I.

Individuals who enlisted before August 25, 1912, are given double credit for certain service performed by them outside the continental limits of the United States in computing their length of service for purposes of retirement. Individuals who received such credit and who served creditably in World War I were entitled to be advanced on the retired list to the highest commissioned, warrant, or enlisted grade held by them during that war.

However, no increase in retired pay was authorized by reason of such advancement. Subsequently, provision was made that enlisted men with double-time credit would be entitled to the maximum retired pay then or thereafter authorized for the grade in which they were retired.

In addition, retired enlisted men were authorized to receive retired pay computed on the basis of the commissioned officer grade to which they were advanced. The Comptroller General held, however, that in computing the retired pay of a retired enlisted man on the basis of

the commissioned officer grade to which he has been advanced, doubletime credit could not be counted as that credit may be counted only in computing length of service for the purpose of qualifying for retirement (29 Comp. Gen. 220).

In view of this decision, a small group of retired enlisted men who were advanced to a commissioned officer grade elected to be restored on the retired list to their former enlisted grade because of the higher retirement pay.

Section 2 (15), Career Incentive Act of 1955-Sixty-ninth United States Statutes at Large, page 22-authorizes the counting of doubletime credit in computing the retired pay of a retired enlisted man on the basis of the commissioned officer grade to which he was advanced under the act of May 7, 1932-Forty-seventh United States Statutes at Large, page 150. The proposed legislation permits those persons who elected to be restored to their former enlisted grade, as noted above, and who thereby received no benefit from the 1955 act, to have their retired pay recomputed, with credit for double time, on the basis of the highest grade satisfactorily held during World War I and authorizes their being readvanced upon the retired list to that grade.

The Department of the Army favors enactment of the proposed legislation and the Bureau of the Budget interposes no objection. The statement could have contained a statement to the effect I had offered each one of those amendments over a period of perhaps 12 to 14 years in an attempt to secure recognition of this group of enlisted

men.

Mr. BATES. Why were they turned down?

Mr. KILDAY. Mainly because they had served prior to 1912 and there was nobody left in the active duty status who knew anything about them or cared much about them.

Mr. GAVIN. How many in this group?

Mr. KILDAY. I don't know.

Mr. GAVIN. Can you give just an estimate?

Mr. KILDAY. Let me tell you who they are. They were those men who served as enlisted men in the Regular Army prior to 1912 and had served outside the continental United States and, therefore, got doubletime credit toward retirement.

Then of that number, those who received commissions during World War I and at the end of World War I, practically all of them reverted to enlisted status, some retired. Then in 1932, to give them some recognition, they were permitted to retire with the title of their commissioned grade, but with the pay of a warrant officer, no matter what their grade may have been.

That is just a little recognition given them. Of course, they were glad to be able to call themselves lieutenant and captain, a few of them were majors. But they never did quite understand why they had the title and why they didn't get the pay. I have never quite under

stood it either.

Mr. BATES. Does the chairman have a position on this bill-
Mr. KILDAY. There are less than a hundred living.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Mr. Chairman, we have a Department witness. Mr. KILDAY. Major Lee, the Department witness, come around, please.

Mr. GAVIN. I can't understand why they would be given the rank and not the pay.

Mr. KILDAY. They never understood it either.
Mr. GAVIN. Are we acting favorably—

Mr. KILDAY. What this is is the exact same thing we had in the previous bill. When it came to the election after the Career Compensation Act, there were a few of them who elected to remain enlisted men and complication has arisen. I think we ought to hear the major. I ought not to be the only advocate of the bill.

Will you please proceed with the bill?

Major LEE. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Maj. William F. Lee, Office of the Adjutant General, Department of the Army. The Department of the Army has been designated as the representative of the Department of Defense on this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I have a prepared statement which I will gladly read or you may wish to insert it in the record and I will briefly discuss the proposal.

The purpose of H. R. 7706 is to permit, effective April 1, 1955, members of the Armed Forces retired before or after the date of enactment of the bill with 30 years' service-including credit for double time to receive retired pay equal to 75 percent of the pay of the highest enlisted, warrant, or commissioned officer grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I.

Prior to August 25, 1912, enlisted personnel were given double credit for certain service performed outside the continental limits of the United States, but only in computing their length of service for purposes of retirement, and not for the purpose of computing retired pay.

Subsequent laws permitted such personnel who had World War I service to be advanced on the retired list to the highest commissioned, warrant, or enlisted grade held, with no increase in pay. Provision was later made to entitled enlisted personnel with double-time credit to receive the maximum retired pay then or thereafter authorized for the grade in which retired.

However, in computing the pay of a retired enlisted man on the basis of the commissioned officer grade to which advanced, doubletime credit could not be counted. This resulted in cases where the individual would get less retired pay as a commissioned or warrant officer than he would as a retired enlisted man. Accordingly, a small group of retired enlisted men, advanced to a commissioned grade, elected to be restored to their former enlisted grade in order to receive higher retirement pay.

The Career Incentive Act of 1955 authorized the counting of doubletime credit in computing the retired pay of retired enlisted men on the basis of the commissioned officer grade to which advanced. However, those who had requested to be restored to enlisted status could not receive the benefit of this act as it was held that once restored to enlisted status, the individual could not later be readvanced to commissioned or warrant status.

Therefore, H. R. 7706 would permit persons who elected to be restored to their former enlisted grade, who received no benefit of the 1955 act, to be upon request readvanced and thereby have their retired pay recomputed so as to include credit for double time on the basis of the highest grade satisfactorily held in World War I.

Accordingly, the Department of Defense favors enactment of H. R. 7706. It is believed that fewer than 100 individuals of the Armed Forces will be involved in this legislation.

I have appreciated this opportunity of appearing before the committee and shall be happy to answer any questions you may have on this bill.

Mr. KILDAY. Are there any questions of the major?

Mr. RIVERS. Do you favor the bill?

Major LEE. Yes, sir.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Major, in looking over this bill it appears that there is a possibility that has just come to my attention that the language on page 1 and page 2 says that these people will be entitled to the maximum retired pay now or hereafter provided for the grade in which retired; that might well raise the question of whether these people would be entitled to be advanced to the new pay grades E-8 and E-9.

Of course, that is not intended since no one now retired will be advanced to those grades, and to overcome that, would you object if the bill were amended to read as follows:

That effective April 1, 1955, members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, retired before or after the date of enactment of this act, with 30 years' service, including credit for double time, are entitled to the maximum retired pay

strike out the words "now or hereafter" and say

provided for the grade in which retired in effect prior to June 1, 1958, or for the highest enlisted warrant or commissioned officer grade in which they served satisfactorily during World War I.

That will eliminate any of this possibility of this question of the E-8 or E-9 grade coming up, but it will also be with the understanding that they will be entitled to the increase in retirement pay which the Congress recently passed.

By putting the June 1, 1958, date in there, I can't visualize any person now serving on active duty who would retire in the future. So that hereafter, going out would not affect it, in my opinion. Would you object to that amendment?

Major LEE. I have no objection, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Thank you, Major.

Major LEE. Thank you.

Mr. KILDAY. We will next take up H. R. 11504. Commander William G. Leischner, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Mobilization and Plans. Will you come around, please, Lieutenant?

(The bill is as follows:)

[H. R. 11504, 85th Cong., 2d sess.].

A BILL To amend title 10 of the United States Code to permit enlisted members of the Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve to transfer to the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve on the same basis as members of the regular components

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That title 10, United States Code, is amended as follows:

(1) Section 6327 (e) is amended to read as follows:

"(e) A member who is eligible for retirement under this section, and who is also eligible for retirement under another provision or for transfer to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve under section 6330 of this title, is entitled to elect which of these benefits he is to receive."

(2) Section 6330 (s) is amended by striking out the words "Regular Navy and the Regular Marine Corps, respectively", and inserting in place thereof the words "naval service".

(3) Section 6330 (b) is amended by inserting the words "or the Naval Reserve" after the words "Regular Navy" and by inserting the words "or the Marine Corps Reserve" after the words "Regular Marine Corps."

(4) Section 6331 (a) is amended to read as follows:

"(a) When he has completed 30 years of service, or when he is found not physically qualified in an examination under section 6485 of this title, a member of the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve shall be transferred-

"(1) to the retired list of the Regular Navy or the Regular Marine Corps, as appropriate, if he was a member of the Regular Navy or the Regular Marine Corps at the time of his transfer to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve; or

"(2) to the appropriate Retired Reserve, if he was a member of the Naval Reserve or the Marine Corps Reserve at the time of his transfer to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve."

(5) Section 6331 (b) is amended by striking out the words "of clause (2)". (6) Section 6331 (c) is amended by inserting the words "or the Retired Reserve" after the words "retired list" in the second line and in the fourth line. (7) Section 6332 is amended by inserting the words "or the Retired Reserve" after the word "Navy" in clause (3) and after the words "Marine Corps" in clause (4).

Mr. KILDAY. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide authority whereby enlisted career reservists of the Navy and Marine Corps who served on active duty for 20 or more years may be transferred, upon their request, to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, with retainer pay, and may be subsequently retired with retired pay under the same circumstances and with the same benefits and obligations as enlisted members of the Regular Navy and Regular Marine Corps.

Mr. McCarthy of Minnesota is the author of the bill and we will receive his statement in the record at this point.

(The statement above referred to is as follows:)

Mr. Chairman, the purpose of my bill, H. R. 11504, is to amend certain provisions of title 10, United States Code, relating to the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve so as to provide authority for the transfer of Reserves to those components on the same basis as members of the Regular components.

Section 6330 of title 10, United States Code, provides that an enlisted member of the Regular Navy or the Regular Marine Corps who has completed 20 or more years of active service in the Armed Forces may, at his request, be transferred to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, as appropriate. A member so transferred is entitled, when not on active duty, to retainer pay at the rate of 21⁄2 percent of his basic pay at the time of transfer multipled by the number of his years of active service.

Section 6331 of title 10, United States Code, provides that a member of the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve shall be transferred to the retired list of the Regular Navy or the Regular Marine Corps, with retired pay, upon being found physically disqualified or upon completing 30 years of service, including active and inactive service in the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve.

Members of the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, are, in effect, in a "semiretired" status. They are subject to recall to active duty, however, in time of war or emergency, with or without their consent, and they may be required in time of peace to perform 2 months of active duty for training in each 4-year period. They must also report for physical examination at least once in each 4 years (10 U. S. C. 6485).

This bill would amend title 10, United States Code, section 6330, to make enlisted members of the Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Reserve eligible for transfer to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve upon completion of 20 or more years of active service in the Armed Forces. It would amend title 10 United States Code, section 6331, to provide that Fleet