After Japan's surrender in September of 1945, the U.S. military immediately began implementing a drill they had been planning for since the later stages of the war: Operation Magic Carpet.
The operation was not military in nature per se, rather it was designed to rapidly return American and Allied soldiers back to their home countries. A follow-on mission called Operation Santa Clause was designed to rapidly demobilize the troops, discharge them, and get them home in time for the Christmas holiday. The task fell on the war shipping office to administer the plan.
The end of World War II came abruptly for many, as a bloody ground campaign had been expected in Japan. The atomic bomb was, of course, a closely held secret up until it was used. But once the Imperial Japanese capitulated, Magic Carpet swung into gear with planning for the eventual demobilization having begun back in 1943.
The Navy authorized the use of combat ships to help ferry troops home and cargo ships became known as Liberty Ships as they were converted to also transport troops. In all, nearly eight million service members needed to return home. Each month, hundreds of thousands of service members landed back on American shores. Despite criticisms about who got shipped home first, Capt. Granville Conway of the war shipping office told the New York Times that the Army had done a "magnificent" job in bringing America's boys back home.
At a discharge center in New York, Technical Sergeant Dennis Cox Jr. got off the phone with his wife and told a reporter, "I've just had a wonderful present. My wife tells me my kid firmly believes Santa Claus brought me home. Now I can have what I was dreaming about last Christmas. That kid's remark makes everything worthwhile."
Operation Magic Carpet ran through October of 1946.