I got a ping. I didn’t even notice how old this is! I didn’t read the ping notice fully. I would’ve assumed the same thing. Or else someone would pay out of their own pockets. Some of these guys were as rich as Croesus.
Funny how an old thread gets resurrected now and then. Maybe it was such a custom to reimburse or offer a monetary gift to chaplains that he couldn’t imagine not doing so; but as you note, many had plenty of their own pocket money.
Who knows!