3. It Took A Magic Carpet to Bring America’s Troops Back Home
As late as 1939, even as war raged in Asia and the clouds of conflict lowered over Europe, America had a tiny Army of roughly 170,000 men. Although some rearmament steps were taken before December 7th, 1941, it took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to finally rid America of her isolationist tendencies. The rude entry into the war forced the country to begin the Herculean process of shifting from peacetime footing to that of total war, and beating plowshares into swords, America mobilized as never before. The industry was retooled from civilian pursuits such as manufacturing lipstick casings, and converted to pumping out bullet cartridges; from producing typewriters to turning out tanks; and from assembly lines rolling out family sedans to rolling out heavy bombers by the thousand.
More importantly, America mobilized her most precious asset: her manpower and the flower of her youth. By 1945, the US had put 16 million men in uniform – a figure that if prorated to current population, would be the equivalent of putting about 40 million Americans in the military today. At war’s end, there were more than 8 million US servicemen stationed overseas, scattered all over the globe. Most of them were eager to return home, and most of their loved ones wanted them back yesterday. Bringing them back as soon as possible, however, was going to be a tall order. So the authorities came up with Operation Magic Carpet, to return American servicemen to their homes as soon as possible.
