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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

"Magic Carpet" Press Release

NAVY DEPARTMENT
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS AND RADIO
DECEMBER 17, 1945

MARINE UNITS RETURNING HOME

Troop transports docking on both coasts will return approximately 8,000 Marines to this country for Christmas according to Marine Corps Headquarters.

Arriving in San Diego yesterday (December 16) aboard the USS Hampton were 90 officers and 1,460 enlisted men of the battle-scarred Third Marine Division, veterans of Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima. They will be followed by the initial elements of occupation troops from Japan, members of the Second and Fifth Marine Divisions and the Fifth Amphibious Corps. The majority of the troops due to arrive for the holidays are already aboard transports headed for the land they adore.

The Fifth Division is slated to be returned to the United States for disbandment. However, approximately 9,000 officers and enlisted personnel of this division who had neither sufficient points nor the required number of months overseas, were first transferred into the Second Division and the Fifth Amphibious Corps Headquarters in order to make room for high point personnel of these latter organizations among the homeward bound veterans of the Fifth.

First returnees of the Fifth will arrive in San Diego on December 19 aboard the USS PONDERA and will consist of 58 Marine officers, 1,575 Marine enlisted, three Naval officers and 41 Naval enlisted. Included will be elements of the First and Second Battalions, Twenty-seventh Marines; H and S Company, Twenty-seventh Marines; Fifth Reconnaissance Company; Fifth Ammunition and Supply Company; Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, and Fifth Supply and Ordnance Company, together with attached high point personnel of the Second Marine Division and the Fifth Amphibious Corps.

The transport USS Cortland is due in San Diego on December 24 with 49 Marine officers, 683 Marine enlisted, five Naval officers and 14 Naval enlisted. These include elements of H and S Battery, Thirteenth Marines; First and Fourth Battalions, Thirteenth Marines, and attached high point personnel.

Remaining personnel of the Second and Fifth Marine Divisions and the Fifth Amphibious Corps eligible for rotation or discharge are expected to arrive in San Diego shortly after the initial elements.

Other expected arrivals of miscellaneous Marine troops from overseas included: USS Minneapolis, 34 enlisted, due In San Francisco today; USS San Francisco, 17 officers, 109 enlisted, due In San Francisco December 17; USS Catskill, 13 officers, 489 enlisted, due In San Diego today; USS Ostara, 7 officers, 234 enlisted, due in San Diego today; USS Salamau, 8 officers, 23 enlisted, due In San Francisco December 19; PC 1141, 14 officers, 97 enlisted, due in San Francisco December 21; USS Wyandott, 12 officers, 312 enlisted, due In Norfolk December 22; USS Sheridan, 17 officers, 1,432 enlisted, due In San Diego December 24; and USS Tyron, 23 officers, 29 enlisted, due in San Francisco January 5, 1946.

Elements of the First Battalion, Fourth Marines, arrived In San Francisco December 14 aboard the USS Lexington. Five Marine officers, 175 enlisted Marines, two Naval officers and 21 Naval enlisted were returned to disband the battalion, and In Seattle 1,056 miscellaneous Marine troops arrived on December 15 aboard the USS White Plains.

All returning Marines eligible for discharge will be transferred to the discharge center nearest their home. These centers are located at Camp Pendleton, California; Great Lakes, Illinois; Bainbridge, Maryland, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.


28 Nov 2006