The Points Were All That Mattered: The United states of america Ground forces's Demobilization After World War II

When World War 2 concluded in Europe, American soldiers feverishly began calculating how shortly they might go home based on a newly instituted indicate system.

Tiptop Image: American Soldiers of the Usa 9th Army cheer as the SS John Ericsson approaches Pier 84 in the Hudson River at the end of World War 2. Courtesy Library of Congress.

When Federal republic of germany surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, the US Army suddenly faced an enormous new task. The biggest field army in United states history had to transition into an occupation force, and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers in Europe had to redeploy halfway around the world for the expected invasion of Nihon. Since the US Army had a surplus of troops for those two missions, it also had to equitably identify and discharge millions of men who had fought in Europe.

The states Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall had anticipated this herculean task and charged the Special Planning Division in July 1943 with devising a system to determine which soldiers would occupy Deutschland, which soldiers would transfer to the Pacific, and which lucky soldiers would be sent home to their families. Marshall, who had served as General John J. Pershing'due south Chief of Staff during World War I, witnessed kickoff paw the Ground forces's demobilization failures afterward that earlier war. Following the Armistice of 1918, the Usa Army's rapid and disorderly demobilization left it woefully undermanned. After World State of war I, moreover, American divisions had been sent home as entire units. During World War II, nonetheless, this was non a viable choice since older divisions included many soldiers who had arrived overseas equally replacements in the concluding months of the state of war.

It was imperative that the Ground forces discover a mode to ship soldiers home in a prompt manner based on objective criteria. Otherwise it risked provoking widespread protests from restless soldiers overseas who had no enemy to fight. Soldiers' resulting frustration with the Army could have lasting significance for the American public's support for military machine spending after the war.

Afterward soliciting feedback from commanders around the world, the Ground forces ultimately devised and implemented a system called the Adapted Service Rating Score. GIs more commonly referred to it as the point system. Under this scheme, every US soldier was awarded a number of points based on how long they had been overseas, how many decorations they had received, how many campaigns they had taken function in, and how many children they had.

Points were awarded according to the following formula:

- Ane point for each month in service in the Army

- One additional point for each month in service overseas

- Five points for each campaign

- 5 points for a medal for merit or valor (Silver Star for instance)

- Five points for a royal heart (awarded to all soldiers who were wounded in activeness)

- Twelve points for each dependent child up to 3 dependent children

  • Service Rating Card

    A World State of war Two soldier'southward Adjusted Service Rating Menu complete with his calculations of his betoken total. Courtesy of the Arlington Historical Gild's Fielder Firm Museum in partnership with The Portal to Texas History.

  • Service Rating Card

    Reverse side of a World War II Adapted Service Rating Carte. Courtesy of the Arlington Historical Lodge'south Fielder Firm Museum in partnership with The Portal to Texas History.

The organization was announced in September 1944, and as soon as the war in Europe ended, soldiers in that theater began calculating their point totals. They added and re-added, drastic to find a way to accomplish the total of 85 points needed to return habitation. Famed American soldier and state of war correspondent Bill Mauldin drew a drawing referencing the point system in which an American soldier newly returned from overseas greets his child for the first time by calling him a "wonderful little twelve-point rascal!"

Soldiers overseas closely followed official announcements about which units would become credit for which campaigns and eagerly awaited news of whatsoever citations for themselves and their units. Medals had meant comparatively footling to frontline soldiers during the war because deserving acts of heroism oft went unrecognized and an award did not grant a soldier a reprieve from combat service. That all changed after the finish of hostilities, when a commendation could be the difference between going dwelling house and staying in Federal republic of germany for several boosted months.

Once soldiers calculated their points, they had them certified past an officer and and so waited hopefully for news of their reassignment. Existing divisions in Europe that had a large percentage of high-point men, such as the 82nd Airborne Segmentation, were sent home subsequently the lower point men in the division had been transferred elsewhere and long-serving men from other units had been transferred into the divisions. As the Army's estimates of how many soldiers were required in Europe and the Pacific were gradually revised downward, the required betoken total was also progressively lowered.

Although the betoken system was straightforward and its creators aspired to fairness, it was much maligned past soldiers overseas. Historians Waldo Heinrichs and Marc Gallicchio wrote that in theory the system was "an eminently fair means of discharging veteran troops and identifying those who should be called on to return further service in the Pacific." These same scholars added, yet, that in do the system was "an authoritative nightmare" plagued by misinformation and varying interpretations.

In addition to alien information about campaigns and required point totals, soldiers constitute other faults with the system. Those soldiers who had been overseas for more than two years resented the fact that newly arrived fathers got so many points for newborn children. The childless soldiers complained that if they had been stateside in the past ii or three years they may have become fathers also. Individual Walter Anderson wrote to his wife that "I simply have 28 points then there isn't much chance of me getting home. Nosotros should of [sic] had nigh 3 kids." He jokingly added, "We will know better next time." Combat soldiers also resented the fact that rear-echelon staff, who had non endured the hardships and danger of combat, received as many points for their time overseas as combat soldiers.

The ongoing war against Japan further complicated the Regular army'southward efforts to repatriate soldiers from Europe. The Pacific War's priority over resources meant that even when soldiers possessed the requisite number of points, they often had to wait for a ship to get available to take them home. As the months wore on, soldiers grew increasingly dispirited. Sergeant Gerald Raftery, who was stationed in Germany, lamented in July 1945 "how monotonous and pointless this whole existence over here has become."

"While the war was going on we had at least the feeling that nosotros were doing a fairly important job and getting some bodily result, but now our mission is probably almost useless."

Sergeant Gerald Raftery

Lacking a sense of purpose, bored soldiers directed their frustration at Army leaders. In December 1945, thousands of soldiers began staging protests in London, Paris, Germany, and the Philippines, demanding to go home. The war was over and they had no want to remain in uniform. Dorsum in the The states, families pressured their representatives in Congress through write-in campaigns. Truman responded to citizens' calls at a press conference on August 23, 1945, by saying the "armed services are doing everything in their power to expedite demobilization." He added candidly that "It wouldn't brand whatever difference what sort of plan [the Army] had, somebody wouldn't like it."

Despite soldiers' displeasure, the Army actually demobilized its forces at a blistering footstep. By the end of 1945, the War Section had returned more than than iv million soldiers to the The states. Betwixt September and December 1945, the Army discharged an average of 1.2 meg soldiers per month. The point threshold for a soldier to return to the U.s.a. was also lowered from 85 to 50 points by the terminate of the year. On September 6, 1945, just four days after Japan surrendered, Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King fifty-fifty authorized combat ships to begin carrying American troops home. Dubbed Operation Magic Carpet, battleships, carriers, and smaller vessels ultimately carried hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the U.s.a. through September 1946.

The aircraft carrier USS Saratoga sails for the Us in tardily 1945 with more than 3,500 soldiers on lath every bit office of Operation Magic Rug. Courtesy National Archives.

The US Army finally ended the point system in June 1946 in favor of discharging all soldiers afterward they had completed two years of service. By the fourth dimension the US Army's demobilization officially ended on June xxx, 1947, the Regular army had decreased from eight million soldiers in 1945 to 684,000 on July one, 1947. The total number of active divisions also dropped from 89 to 12. Army leaders considered demobilization an overall success. They had completed the orderly drawdown of more than seven meg men in only two years while also defeating Nihon and occupying onetime Centrality nations.

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This article is role of an ongoing serial commemorating the 75th ceremony of the terminate of World War 2 made possible past Bank of America.

Tyler Bamford

Contributor

Tyler Bamford

Tyler Bamford was the Sherry and Alan Leventhal Research Fellow at the Plant for the Study of War and Democracy at The National WWII Museum from 2019-2021. He obtained his PhD in history from Temple Academy and his BA in history from Lafayette College.

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