10. Magic Carpet Takes Off
Magic Carpet began in earnest when the first ships set sail in June, 1945, from the European Theater and crossed the Atlantic, packed with returning veterans. The American buildup in Europe had averaged about 150,000 troops shipped across the Atlantic per month. Magic Carpet reversed the tide, returning US servicemen at an astonishing rate that averaged 435,000 men per month during a fourteen-month-stretch. A peak was reached in December, 1945, when over 700,000 personnel were repatriated from the Pacific Theater alone. To maintain the pace, the number of ships employed steadily grew from the initial 300 requisitioned by the WSA at the start of the operation. The motley fleet ranged in size from small vessels with a carrying capacity of only 300 troops, to behemoths such as the luxury liners Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, converted during the war into troop transports that could carry up to 15,000 servicemen.
