Demobilization of United States armed forces after World War II
The Demobilization of United States armed forces after the Second World War began with the defeat of Germany in May 1945 and continued through 1946. The United States had more than 12 million men and women in the armed forces at the end of World War II, of whom 7.6 million were stationed abroad. The American public demanded a rapid demobilization and soldiers protested the slowness of the process. Military personnel were returned to the United States in Operation Magic Carpet. By June 30, 1947, the number of active duty soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in the armed forces had been reduced to 1,566,000. Total personnel in uniform In 1945 as the defeat of Germany and Japan neared, US military personnel numbered 12,209,238 divided among the services as follows: This total represented wartime expansion of the US military from the 334,000 it had been in 1939. 100,000 men were being drafted per month to replace soldiers in the army who were killed, wounded, and injured or who were discharged for medical problems. ("Uniformed military personnel" will often be referred to collectively as "soldiers" in this article, unless the context requires more specification.) Planning As early as mid-1943, the United States