officers after continuous active duty for one or more years, the beneficiaries specially designated in the manner prescribed by the Secertary of the Navy, shall be paid a lump sum of $500 for each complete year of continuous commissioned active service, and in the event of their death not the result of their own misconduct, or if released from active duty otherwise than upon their own request or as a result of disciplinary action, this lump sum payment shall be prorated for fractional parts of each year of such service: Provided, That the lump sum payments authorized herein shall accrue for not more than seven years and shall be in addition to any pay, allowances, compensation, or benefits which they may otherwise be entitled to receive: Provided further, That the provisions of this section, except those of the first proviso hereof, may be suspended during war or national emergency when the President shall so direct, as to all officers who were formerly enlisted in the grade of aviation cadet or transferred to that enlisted grade more than thirty days after the date of approval of this act. Said section 12 now has been amended by the act of October 25, 1943, Public Law 169, 57 Stat. 574, as follows: That section 12 of the Aviation Cadet Act of 1942 (56 Stat. 738, 34 U. S. C. 850k) is hereby amended by inserting after the comma following the word "Navy", in line 6, the following: "or, if no beneficiary has been specifically designated, the widow of such officer, and if there be no widow, his child or children, and if there be neither widow nor child, the representative of the officer's estate. Sec. 2. This Act shall be effective from August 4, 1942. The various acts have required that the personnel governed thereby obligate themselves to serve for a continuous period of four years on active duty, unless sooner released. That is an obligation not demanded of other classes of reserve forces and the lump-sum payments were authorized as a special inducement to obtain the services of aviation cadets and reserve officers on such basis. Such considerations support the view that the express language contained in section 12 of the 1942 act, supra, as well as in the prior acts, that the lump-sum payments authorized "shall be in addition to any pay, allowances, compensation, or benefits which they may otherwise be entitled to receive” clearly was intended to grant to this particular class of reservists a special benefit which should be in addition to any and all benefits prescribed by law for members of the reserve forces generally. Further support for such view is found in the provisions of said section 12, as amended, respecting payment to a designated beneficiary or to the estate of the officer in the event of death after continuous active duty for one or more years. Such provisions and the provisions for prorating the amount for the period actually served show that the lumpsum payments were intended as additional compensation for services under the stipulated conditions and not merely as a gratuity or bonus. The right to such additional compensation would not be forfeited because other collateral benefits accrued. Retirement pay of naval reservists who suffer disability while on extended active duty is authorized by section 4 of the act of August 27, 1940, 54 Stat. 864, 865, 34 U. S. C. 855c-1, as follows: All officers, nurses, warrant officers, and enlisted men of the United States Naval Reserve or United States Marine Corps Reserve, who, if called or ordered into active naval or military service by the Federal Government for extended naval or military service in excess of thirty days, suffer disability or death in line of duty from disease or injury while so employed shall be deemed to have been in the active naval service during such period, and they or their beneficiaries shall be in all respects entitled to receive the same pensions, compensation, retirement pay, and hospital benefits as are now or may hereafter be provided by law or regulation for officers, warrant officers, nurses, and enlisted men of corresponding grades and length of service of the Regular Navy or Marine Corps It is to be observed that such section applies generally to all reservists suffering disability while serving on extended active duty, under the conditions stated, and thus includes personnel who otherwise may be entitled by virtue of section 12 of the act of August 4, 1942, supra, to the lump-sum payments prescribed therein. If the matter were otherwise doubtful, the doubt would appear to be set at rest by the fact that the said provisions of section 4 of the act of August 27, 1940, authorizing retirement pay for all Naval and Marine Corps reservists suffering disability while serving on extended active duty, are contained in the same act as that which specially provided in section 6, supra-later superseded by section 12 of the act of August 4, 1942for the lump-sum payments for officers commissioned in the Naval or Marine Corps Reserve pursuant to the Naval Aviation Reserve Act of 1939, which payments expressly were to be "in addition to any pay, allowances, compensation, or benefits which they may otherwise be entitled to receive." The two provisions, considered and enacted together, seem clearly to show that the lump-sum payments authorized in section 6 for aviation reservists were to be in addition to the retirement pay benefits authorized in section 4 of the same act for Naval and Marine Corps Reservists generally. That being the intent of section 6 of the act of August 27, 1940, there would appear no basis to ascribe a different intent to the substituted essentially similar provisions of section 12 of the act of August 4, 1942. Nor would there appear any basis for a different rule with respect to aviation reserve officers, otherwise entitled to the lump-sum payments authorized by said section 12 of the act of August 4, 1942, who have been retired pursuant to the provisions of sections 8 and 11 (a) of the act of July 24, 1941, 55 Stat. 604, 605, 34 U. S. C. (Supp. II) 350g, 350j, for disability incurred while serving under a temporary appointment in a higher rank. However, it does not appear that active duty after retirement was intended to be included within the period for which the lump-sum payments were to accrue. The transfer of an officer to the retired list works a material change in his status; and while he may serve thereafter on active duty, he usually is not regarded as serving in the same character as theretofore. The rights and obligations of retired officers are generally separately prescribed by statute and, usually, if rights and benefits authorized for other officers are to extend to retired officers, the statute expressly so provides. 13 Comp. Dec. 116; 5 Comp. Gen. 198; Annotation to Section 1457, Revised Statutes, Laws Relating to the Navy. It is at least doubtful that in authorizing the lump-sum payments of $500 to reserve naval aviators for each year of continuous commissioned active service the Congress intended such payments to accrue for periods after such officers had been transferred to the retired list on account of physical incapacity to perform generally the duties of naval aviators on the active list. although placed on active duty in the status of retired officers for assignment to such limited duties as they might be capable of performing. Under such circumstances, the transfer of such officers to the retired list properly is to be regarded as a release from the active duty contemplated by the statute, so as to authorize payment at that time of the lump-sum amounts accrued for continuous commissioned active service theretofore performed, irrespective of any subsequent active duty as retired officers and irrespective of whether such duty as retired officers follows immediately their transfer to the retired list or follows an interval in an inactive status. Accordingly, the question stated in paragraph 4 (a) of the letter from the Chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts is answered in the affirmative and the question in paragraph 4 (b) is answered by saying that the officer would be entitled to a lump-sum payment based on continuous active commissioned service from November 1, 1940, to March 31, 1943, payable on date of retirement. In view of such conclusions, no comment is made on the suggestion contained in the last paragraph of the letter. (B-37638) TRANSPORTATION OF HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS OF CIVILIAN EM- The provision in section 12 of Executive Order No. 8588, as amended, issued pursuant to the uniform transportation-of-household-effects statute of October 10, 1940, requiring that shipment of a civilian employee's effects upon permanent transfer of station shall begin within six months of the effective date of such transfer unless an extension-not exceeding two years from the effective date of the transfer-shall be approved within the six months' period, was intended to require only that, if shipment is to be delayed over six months, one extension be granted within the six months' period, and that there may be a further extension within the life of the first extension. Comptroller General Warren to the Federal Security Administrator, November 22, 1943: There has been considered your letter of October 13, 1943, in which you refer to the regulations controlling payments for the shipment. of the household effects of civilian employees upon permanent transfer of station, and particularly to the provisions for extending the time limitations within which shipments of goods must begin. The regulation (section 12 of Executive Order No. 8588, as amended by Executive Order No. 9122 of April 6, 1942) is as follows: Sec. 12. Time limit.-All shipments allowable under these regulations shall begin within six months of the effective date of the transfer of the employee unless an extension is specifically granted by the head of the department or establishment. Such an extension shall be approved by the head of the department or establishment within the six months' period during wich shipment would otherwise begin and shall in no case be for a period exceeding two years from the effective date of the transfer, except that, for employees who enter upon active military, naval, or Coast Guard duty at any time prior to the expiration of the period within which transportation of their effects is authorized and who are furloughed for the duration of such duty, the extension may be made effective until a date not more than sixty days following the date of termination of the furlough. You request decision whether an extension of the time limit may be granted more than six months after the effective date of the employee's transfer, but within the period covered by a previous extension which was granted within the six months' period-in other words, broadly, whether more than one extension may be granted within the over-all two-year limit. As you suggest, the language of the regulation is not entirely clear, the only literal requirement being that one such extension be granted within the original six months' period after the effective date of the transfer, that is, after the date of the employee's arrival at his new post of duty pursuant to his transfer order. 23 Comp. Gen. 32. The obvious purpose of the requirement is to limit charges upon the Government for the shipment of employees' effects to shipments made so near in point of time to the transfer of the individuals as to be reasonably related and incidental thereto. Cf. 18 Comp. Gen. 408. Normally, therefore, the regulation might be taken to imply that any such extension is to be granted within the six months and that only one extension could be allowed. However, it cannot be ignored that the amendment to the regulation authorizing an extension of time. was adopted in time of war, when two important factors are dissuasive of such implication, (1) for persons entering military service the period may be extended until their furlough is ended, and it is not understood that one whose call to service came during a short extension previously granted was intended to be denied a further extension until his military service ended, (2) the war-time housing shortages prevailing where Federal workers are congregated may prevent, in many cases, the consummation of living arrangements in accordance with normal expectations, and a considerable latitude in the matter of moving an employee's goods to a new locality may be both reasonable and necessary. Accordingly, it is concluded that the regulation as amended was intended to require only that, if the shipment is to be delayed over six months, one extension be granted within the six months' period, and that there may be granted a further extension within the life of the first extension granted, from which it follows that your question is answered in the affirmative. (B-34918) PAY-RETIRED WARRANT OFFICER OF THE COAST GUARD WITH OVER 40 YEARS' SERVICE The provision in section 3 of the act of January 12, 1923, authorizing commissioned officers of the Coast Guard with over 40 years' service to be placed on the retired list with the rank and retired pay of one grade above that actually held at the time of retirement, is not applicable to chief warrant officers of the Coast Guard appointed pursuant to the act of July 3, 1926, which act assimilates the pay, allowances, and benefits of such officers to those of commissioned warrant officers of the Navy who are not entitled by law to a one grade advancement upon retirement under the circumstances stated in said section 3. Assistant Comptroller General Yates to the Secretary of the Navy, November 24, 1943: Reference is made to your letter of May 31, 1943, requesting decision as to the active duty pay and retired pay authorized to be paid to Chief Boatswain Nels Johnson, United States Coast Guard, Retired. It appears that Chief Boatswain Johnson was appointed to that grade on October 23, 1935, and that he was retired from the Coast Guard as of July 1, 1936, with total service in excess of 40 years. It is stated that his retired pay was computed on the basis of the pay authorized for a warrant officer with 30 years' service, which he apparently was receiving immediately preceding his retirement. On January 13, 1942, he was recalled to active duty as chief warrant officer and paid the active duty pay authorized for a warrant officer with 30 years' service. Three questions are submitted for decision: (1) Whether Chief Boatswain Johnson is entitled, while on active duty, to the pay of a lieutenant (jg) with 30 years' service; (2) if question (1) is answered in the negative, what is the correct rate of pay to which he is entitled; and (3) what is the correct rate of retired pay after the officer's relief from active duty. With respect to all of these questions, the primary determination to be made is whether section 3 of the act of January 12, 1923, 42 Stat. 1131, is applicable to the present officer's case. Said section was amended by section 2 of the act of June 9, 1937, 50 Stat. 252, and again by section 2 of the act of June 6, 1940, 54 Stat. 246, but both of those amendments were made after the officer's retirement and, in any event, are not material to the present case. Said section 3, as originally enacted, is as follows: Sec. 3. That hereafter no commissioned officer of the Coast Guard shall be promoted to a higher grade or rank on the active list, except to commandant or to engineer in chief, until his mental, moral, and professional fitness to perform all the duties of such higher grade or rank have been established to the satis |