Raising enlistees to $467.17 a month, in today’s money. And that nickle coke would cost 78 cents. Of course, that was for 6.5 ounces, so 12 ounces would be $1.50.
So Coke hasn’t kept up with inflation, while military pay has exceeded it.
That depends on how you look at it.
Check out this site for relative worth calculations.
If you only consider the consumer price index, then your number is about right.
But if you compare $30 per month in 1940 with today's unskilled wages and production worker compensation, then it's equivalent to around $1,000 per month -- and that's with no expenses for room & board. ;-)
But the number I like best is the relative share of GDP comparison -- in this case $30 per month in 1940 would be over $4,000 per month today!
What that means is simply that a soldier earning $30 then was in the same relative position on the economic totem pole as someone making over $4,000 today.
And 1940 was still peace time, so the risks of death or injury were as yet pretty small...