(52- 20 was a subsection of the GI bill. It promised $20 a week for 52 weeks to tide veterans over as they searched for work.)
My name is Arthur Poretz. I was honorably discharged from Navy in 1946 and applied for 52-20 payments. I’m writing about the period but have no recollection of how I actually received the $20 each week. No checking account, no credit cards, it couldn’t have been cash in the mail. Very stumped but sure there is an answer since I’m writing about 1946 and my life after war.
Perhaps some reader remembers how these payments were made. Please comment.
My Dad said he got his at the post office. He returned from Europe 21 July 1945. New York Harbor. He then got 2×30 day leaves. Bomb dropped, 2 Sept, then discharged after that second 30 day leave. Then best guess is he did paperwork and started getting his check starting in Oct. or Nov. It was either a money order or check at the post office.
It was 20.00 a week
Charles Clark writes: Got discharged in 1956 and went to the local fire station and stood in line to get mine.I was amazed at how many of us there were in that small town.
Robert H. Stern writes: This was another brilliant New Deal initiative. It gave veterans a year to demobilize, decide on their future, keep the economy stable as purchasing power did not disappear, kept the economy from crashing as 14 million veterans came home. Republicans called it socialism and voted against it.
Bud White writes: I Think you went to unemployment office to collect but not positive
Nov 12 at 1:51 PM
By the way, that 1946 $20 a week equals almost $300 a week in today’s money (as my son researched) so we 52 20 club members did well in 1946 and 47.
Arthur Poretz.