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The Ship That Disguised Itself as an Island and Other Lesser-Known WWII Facts

Khalid Elhassan July 6, 2020 35 min

Guadalcanal - Guadalcanal campaign — Marines arriving in Guadalcanal. Encyclopedia Britannica

10. Getting the Boys Back Home

New recruits undergoing physical training. National Archives

When the guns finally fell silent and WWII came to an end, over eight million American servicemen were stationed overseas, scattered all over the globe. The fighting was over, and it was time to bring our heroes back home – heroes whose eagerness to return to civilian life was matched by the eagerness of their loved ones to see, touch, and embrace them once again.

Issuing gear to new recruits. National Archives

To that end, Operation Magic Carpet was conducted to repatriate America’s boys to American soil. The massive logistical effort was entrusted to the War Shipping Administration (WSA). It was an agency created during the emergency of WWII to coordinate, oversee, and operate America’s civilian shipping in support of the war effort.

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.