politicians, eager to score points against Presidents Franklin D. Transparent though the rating system was, it hid a huge problem: Just because soldiers were eligible didn’t mean there was a ship available to take them home. Soldiers thought the system was fair, as did the U.S. Female military personnel needed fewer points. Soldiers with 85 points or more were first in line to head home. In September 1944, eight months before Germany’s surrender, the War Department announced that soldiers would be demobilized based on a point system that counted length of service, overseas deployment, combat duty and parenthood. Planning for demobilization had begun long before Allied victory was declared. soldiers making their way home by way of the New York harbor in June, 1945. WATCH: Pacific: The Lost Evidence on HISTORY Vault Alton Lee, author of “The Army ‘Mutiny’ of 1946” published in December 1966 in The Journal of American History, the actions of many soldiers easily qualified for the charge of mutiny. Soldiers carried placards mocking their commanders and defied orders in a way that would have been unthinkable six months earlier. Beset by homesickness and boredom, the GI’s were prey to manipulation by politicians in Washington and agitators within their ranks.ĭuring the five months, from V-J Day into January 1946, thousands took to the streets at bases around the world, protesting the delays. The problem was, it had taken four years to get the estimated 7.6 million troops overseas and it was going to take more than four months to get them home. troops were concerned, it was time to ditch the uniforms and get home-preferably by Christmas. Victory had been declared over Japan and, as far as thousands of U.S. By late August 1945, World War II was over.
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