This Day in History: 1924-01-12
The New Jersey Bonus Bureau revealed that 124,000 out of 128,257 applicants received state bonuses for their service during World War I. Those that were rejected proved mostly to be enemy aliens, those who did not serve any active duty, were dishonorably discharged or enlisted after November 11th, 1918. Federal records showed that 143,126 enlisted from New Jersey, 116,083 in the Army, 23,826 in the navy and 3,227 in the Marines. A few applications were still being processed mainly because of conflicts between Federal and state records as to where a particular serviceman had enlisted. The bonuses were made on a sliding scale depending on length of service and overseas service. The average bonus paid was $88.75, for a total of nearly $11 million for the entire state. December 31st 1923 was the deadline for applications to be made for this special service bonus.
(Bristow)