![]() ![]() USS Lake Champlain, a brand-new Essex-class carrier that arrived too late for the war, could cross the Atlantic and take 3,300 troops home a little under 4 days and 8 hours. The time to get home depended a lot on the circumstances. soldiers recently freed from Japanese POW camps This was also done under Operation Magic Carpet. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of German and Italian POWs held in camps outside Europe had to be returned to their countries, too. The transports carrying them also had to collect numerous POWs from recently liberated Japanese camps, many of whom suffered from malnutrition and illness. The war in Asia had been expected to go well into 1946 and the Navy and the War Shipping Administration were hard-pressed to bring home all the soldiers who now had to get home earlier than anticipated. The Japanese surrender in August 1945 came none too soon, but it put an extra burden on the operation. Website Facebook Instagram YouTube Troops performing a lifeboat drill onboard the Queen Mary in December 1944, before Operation Magic Carpet (Photo: MARAD) 6-day BEACHES OF NORMANDY TOUR Twenty-nine ships were dedicated to transporting war brides: women married to American soldiers during the war. Two British ocean liners under American control, the RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, had already served as troop transports before and continued to do so during the operation, each capable of carrying up to 15,000 people at a time, though their normal, peacetime capacity was less than 2,200. The Navy wasn’t picky, though: cruisers, battleships, hospital ships, even LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) were packed full of men yearning for home. Bunks aboard the Army transport SS Pennant Carriers were particularly useful, as their large open hangar decks could house 3,000 or more troops in relative comfort, with bunks, sometimes in stacks of five welded or bolted in place. On smaller ships like destroyers, capable of carrying perhaps 300 men, soldiers were told to hang their hammocks in whatever nook and cranny they could find. In October 1945, with the war in Asia also over, the Navy started chipping in, converting all available vessels to transport duty. Hammocks crammed into available spaces aboard the USS Intrepid With the end of the war getting closer, the Points System was revised almost every 3-4 months. An enlisted serviceman needed a score of 85 points to be considered for demobilization. ![]() More points meant less months until repatriation. Servicemen could obtain points for different actions in combat, number of dependents, number of months served, etc. The conditions of a soldier returning home and getting discharged from military service were set out in the so-called Advance Service Rating Score (ASRS) better known as the Points System. During the war, 148,000 troops crossed the Atlantic west to east each month the rush home ramped this up to 435,000 a month over 14 months. 300 Victory and Liberty cargo ships were converted to troop transports for the task. The job of transporting 3 million men home fell to the Army and the Merchant Marine. Navy was still busy fighting in the Pacific and couldn’t assist. When Germany capitulated 76 years ago in May 1945, the U.S. Soldiers returning home on the USS General Harry Taylor in August 1945 The repatriation of military personnel was done in Operation Magic Carpet. Marshall had already established committees to address the issue in 1943. The problem didn’t come as a surprise, as Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Shipping them out wasn’t a particular problem but getting them home was a massive logistical headache. At the end of the war, over 8 million of these men and women were scattered overseas in Europe, the Pacific and Asia. ![]() In 1945, there were over 12 million, including the Coast Guard. In 1939, there were 334,000 servicemen, not counting the Coast Guard. military experienced an unimaginable increase during World War II. troops returning from Europe on board of a British ocean liner The dauting task of returning the troops home after WWII Operation Magic Carpet
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