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Bringing the Boys Home: America’s Demobilization After WWII

Khalid Elhassan December 18, 2024 13 min

Magic-Carpet - Cover of a souvenir booklet prepared for US Army personnel in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations — Cover of a souvenir booklet prepared for US Army personnel in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. Yank, the Army Weekly

9. The Variables That Determined How Long it Took To Get Back Home

Magic-Carpet - 'When Do I Go Home' US Army newsmap — ‘When Do I Go Home’ US Army newsmap. National Archives

Among the vessels used in the massive repatriation effort were 48 hospital ships, to transport over half a million American wounded, as well as 29 specially commissioned transports to ship the half million war brides – European women married by US servicemen – to their new homes in America. Passage times varied, depending on the servicemen’s location, as well as the luck of the draw in the ships to which they were assigned. For example, the USS Lake Champlain set an Atlantic crossing record in a mere 4 days and 8 hours. By contrast, other veterans stationed in posts farther away, such as India or Australia, could spend weeks or months at sea aboard slower vessels.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.