Bushes are the only plants on Guadalcanal, and the low and dense bushes provide the best cover for the fighting parties of the United States, Japan and China.
Although the continuous bombings have flattened some of the bushes on the island, for this tenacious job, no matter how fierce the bombing is, it is just a drizzle. After a heavy rain, the bushes will spring up from the ground like mushrooms after a rain.
came out, so there are still a lot of bushes for the warring parties to hide.
Li Sanpao is an authentic young man from Shanxi. He is 23 years old and only joined the army in June this year, just like most people of this era.
Before joining the army, Li Sanpao was thin and a bit short due to malnutrition. Fortunately, this situation has been greatly improved after joining the army.
Good food and rigorous training made Li Sanpao's green peasant smell disappear in a short period of time, and now he looks like a capable veteran.
Of course, this appearance is only superficial. In any case, Li Sanpao is still just a recruit with more than three months of military service.
However, unlike other soldiers, Li Sanpao can speak a little English.
There is no doubt that the reason why he knows so little English is all due to his Chinese teacher in high school. Although the Chinese teacher only taught him for one year, he still laid some foundation in English for him.
It was precisely with this foundation that Li Sanpao stood out from many other competitors and successfully joined the dispatch team of the Liantai Militia and came to Guadalcanal, thousands of miles away.
Yes, you read that right. Although in the eyes of Roosevelt, Gao Hongming, Yang Aiyuan, Commander Liu and other big shots, the Americans requested to send this dispatch team just to be cannon fodder for them. No one with any brains would do it.
Will be fooled by this.
But Gao Hongming just agreed, and in addition to the navy, there were also aircraft and armored units. Not only Gao Hongming, but even the dispatch team's quota was robbed.
Why does this happen?
The reason is simple, because the U.S. government promised that they would pay the soldiers participating in the war in accordance with U.S. standards.
Let's take the U.S. Army as an example. The monthly salary of an ordinary U.S. Army soldier is US$50.
Perhaps many people are not clear about the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar in the 1940s. Here I can do a simple conversion.
In the 1940s, one dollar was equivalent to 103 yuan in 2022, and 50 US dollars was equivalent to about 5,150 yuan.
Maybe someone else said, this is not much, and for more than 5,000 yuan, you want me to sacrifice my life for him. This human life is not worth much.
But please keep in mind that this is only the basic salary of a recruit. With wartime allowances and other miscellaneous things, the salary of a soldier is definitely more than one hundred dollars.
This is only the salary of new recruits. As for privates, corporals, sergeants, and staff sergeants, the salaries will even double.
At that time, a relatively cheap car in the United States cost about US$600, which meant that a new recruit could buy a car with one year's salary.
For someone with the rank of colonel like Chi Yaohui, the annual basic salary can reach 4,000 US dollars. If converted to 2022, that would be 412,000 soft girls.
In the United States, a set meal with coffee only costs about 70 cents, and a hamburger only costs 25 cents.
From this point of view, the salary of a recruit is more than enough to support a family of four. If the price is converted to Chinese prices, the purchasing power is even higher.
And if a soldier dies in battle, congratulations, your family can rely on your pension for the rest of their lives.
The U.S. government stipulates that if a soldier dies in battle, his death pension alone will be one hundred thousand dollars.
This is 100,000 US dollars in the 1940s. As for how many burgers and meal packages this money can buy, you can figure it out for yourself.
It is worth mentioning that this does not include the compensation and supplementary insurance provided by the insurance company. Not only that, the wives of those soldiers who sacrificed their lives can receive a monthly subsidy of US$950, and each child can receive a monthly subsidy of US$237 until
until they get married.
This is why when the soldiers of the Liantai Militia heard about such a high salary, they rushed to sign up for the dispatch team.
As for what would be dangerous?
Haha... I'm not afraid of poverty, but I'm afraid of death?
Even if he dies, it will be worth it if he can make his wife, children, parents live a good life.
Li Sanpao lit the fire in front of him, and the firewood pile filled with gasoline immediately burst into flames. Watching the more than ten corpses in the fire slowly burn to ashes in the flames, Li Sanpao felt particularly complicated.
Yes, Li Sanpao is now burning the bodies of his brothers who died last night.
Although the dispatch team wiped out the Ichimu detachment in the early morning battle this morning, they also paid a certain price.
The more than ten corpses in this pile of firewood and the more than twenty wounded soldiers lying in the medical team are the best proof.
"Brothers, your luck is not very good. It's only the first day you left, but you don't have to worry. Chief Chi said that he will personally send a report to Chief Gao, and your pension will be sent to you.
In the hands of your family, you can have enough food and clothing for your family for a lifetime."
Not far from Li Sanpao, a captain was burning paper money for more than a dozen soldiers who had been killed by sparks. A gust of sea breeze blew, and the paper money that had been burnt to black ashes rolled up into the sky, adding to the serious atmosphere.
A bit solemn.
"Sanpao." A soldier from the same village next to him poked Li Sanpao in the arm.
"Um?"
"Do you think we can go home alive?" The soldier from the same village looked a little confused. He and Li Sanpao looked at each other. He also joined the army more than three months ago. It seems that the battle early this morning made him a little confused.
.
"I have no idea."
Li Sanpao paused and then said: "When I came here, the commander told me that if I couldn't go back, Commander Gao would directly give my pension to my father.
My father will use the money to find a wife for my brother and I, and the remaining money can be used to rebuild my house. In this case, I will have nothing to regret even if I can't go back."
Xingxing, a soldier from the same village, said: "Your old Li family has three brothers, of course you are not afraid. But I am the only one in the old Xiao family. If I can't go back, my mother will cry to death."
Looking at this friend who had been playing with him since childhood, Li Sanpao rolled his eyes: "I tried to persuade you not to come over, but you just didn't listen. It's too late to regret now.
The commander said before coming here that this battle will have to be fought for at least two or three years, and we won't be able to go back that soon, so you just have to ask for your blessings."
While the two were talking, the companion next to him poked his arm again, "Hey... Sanpao, look, there are some foreign devils over there coming towards us."