Did wounded soldiers get any payment in World War 2?

Answer 1

In the US Military, generally no. Soldiers were getting base pay, plus overseas and combat pay. Paratroopers were also getting jump pay.

Wounded soldiers got free medical care for their wounds, even after they were discharged from the service at Veterans Administration hospitals, until they got as well as they were going to get.

IF, and only IF, there was any permanent disability resulting from the soldier's service, THEN he would be entitled to a monthly pension check. This disability need not be from wounds only - if a soldier was disabled in an accident with no enemy within thousands of miles, then he might be eligible for a pension. If he was disabled due to a disease acquired in the service he might be eligible.

If, after reaching his "MMI", maximum point of medical improvement, a soldier was discharged, but later became disabled due to his wound/injury/disease, he might become eligible for a pension at that time. Before soldiers were discharged they were supposed to get their medical records up to date, with particulars of any wounds/injuries/diseases. If these were documented in their files they were eligible for free ongoing medical care for those at VA hospitals, as long as they lived.

If an ex-soldier thinks he has become disabled due to some service-connected problem after leaving the service, then he can apply for a disability pension. If he is turned down, he can appeal. On his appeal, he can hire a lawyer, and the government will pay the lawyer's fee, up to five whole dollars. This 1872 law, still on the books, says the government will pay the claimant's lawyer's "reasonable fee, not to exceed five dollars". Congress has never seen fit to raise this absurd limit on the compensation for lawyer's representing former soldiers seeking pensions for service-connected disabilities. This means that most of them have to go through the process without legal assistance, because they are disabled, not able to work, and cannot pay a lawyer. In recent years numerous vets who were exposed to atomic bomb blasts as part of training in the 1950s developed abnormally high cancer rates, but these "nuclear vets" could get no help from the government. Its come out in recent years that the water at Camp LeJeune Marine Base is contaminated with carcinogens buried there by the government, and former Marines and their families have abnormally high cancer rates and birth defect rates. Within the last month the government finally, quietly began paying some of these claims.