Thanksgiving World War II, as told by Ed Campbell, U.S. Marine Corps :
I arrived back home [from service in the Pacific] on Thanksgiving Day 1945...   
After my discharge, I got aboard a train on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in South Station, Boston, on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving morning.  The city was absolutely quiet...   
I was able to pay for a cab to take me home [Quincy, Massachusetts] in style.  Of course, we had a great Thanksgiving.  My mother had all the relatives and old friends there -- I had called her to say that I would be home on Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful day to come home.  It was literally the first day of the rest of my life.