OKINAWA BATTLE UNABATED; KEY HILL WON FOR 5TH TIME (5/20/45)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 5/20/45 | Warren Moscow, W.H. Lawrence, George E. Jones, Tillman Durdin, Julian Louis Meltzer, Gladwin Hill

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[colorado tanker]

I don’t see First Army on the map. Is it already in transit to the Pacific?

[Hebrews 11:6]

in transit to the Pacific?

I don't have your answer, but I can supply some data. When my Dad's division transited from Europe to the Pacific in July '45, he had a thirty-day furlough at home before shipping out; indeed, it was during that furlough that Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred, meaning that he never actually embarked. So, I infer that such mid-transit furloughs were probably SOP.

[colorado tanker]

That makes sense. From what I’ve been reading the last couple of weeks they contemplated shipping equipment and support units direct to the Pacific but troops would go through the U.S., presumably to get some leave. Plus, I saw in one of the articles the last couple of days a reference to units “streaming” to the western ports to embark.