When did the soldiers return home after World War 2?

When the end of the war was getting close, the Army developed a system called Advanced Service Rating Score. This was a method to assigna score to each soldier that would determine who was due to go home first. The score was calculated based upone points for time in service and points for time overseas and points assigned by medals and children. The soldiers with the higher points would go home first. When Germany surrendered, the points needed to go home was 85.

However, the Army designated units to be sent home and some to be sent to the Pacific Theater. So they transferred the individual soldiers with high ASRS scores from the units that were not going home to units that were designated to go home. New recruits with low scores were transferred out of units that were going home. There were a lot of troop transfers at the end of the war.

When Japan surrendered, the system was changed to lower the ASRS score needed to be sent home. Now the score was used to determine who went first.

See link.

US soldiers did 33 months on active service and an average of 16 Months Overseas