All I know is that I had two uncle over there. One in the Marine Provisional, or whatever it was called, and the other on the USS Missouri. The one in the Marines told of how they were required to put all their personals in a brown envelope and write a farewell letter.
Said that when they heard of those being dropped they got their stuff back and went on one hell of a bender...even though it was piss warm beer.
The navy uncle had to make way to go into harbor for the surrender. He witnessed it up from the bridge. Also said they was some real tight ass people on those ships. They didnt know what to hell to expect.
“...The one in the Marines told of how they were required to put all their personals in a brown envelope and write a farewell letter...” [crz, post 164]
I’ve seen several accounts, telling us that such orders before a major assault were often given, but if they were Corps-wide policy, I cannot say.
As a B-52 aircrewmember, I deployed in 1979 to the forward area just after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. RUMINT had it that we would soon be making airstrikes; before we took off on what turned out to be surveillance sortie, we were required to sanitize uniforms and remove all personal articles from our pockets and flight kits. No letters home though.
Just what policies are in effect now, I’ve no idea.