If you were a stateside civilian in 1944, there was a pretty good chance that you were toiling in a defense plant, grinding out the war materiel to support the troops. Ships, tanks, planes and all sorts of similar goods were being produced. But in this rush, rush atmosphere, particularly when high explosives were involved, mistakes were made and accidents happened. The Port Chicago blast in California was one of the worst.
That Saipan fighting, still going on, had obvious consequences for one prominent Japanese villain in American minds...
Of course, while General Tojo was having his problems the troops facing an imminent boots-on-the-ground invasion of Guam had special needs.
And good old Abercrombie and Fitch in New York had the goods, if mom and dad could only figure out how to send them to the far away front lines.