John C. Manion registered for the draft on 29 March 1942 and was inducted soon thereafter.

On 10 March 1945, Pfc Manion was transferred from the 505th PIR to Hq 2nde, 508th PIR.

He re-enlisted in the Army on 23 November 1945 and took advantage of a bonus offer allowing him to return to the U.S. on an extended 60-day furlough.

Love Interrupted?
John had an ulterior motive for retuning home --- flashback to 26 November 1943 (see bottom line) --- John had applied for a wedding license in the state of Washington to marry a woman named Ida Brown. 
  The nuptials were apparently disrupted by his draft notice and his entry into the armed forces.

On 11 December 1945, Pfc Manion was aboard the USAT Dominican Victory when it arrived in New York, NY from Le Havre, France.

Note that the travel order states that he is assigned to Reception Station 20, Fort McArthur which was in San Pedro (Los Angeles county) California. The address of his parents' home is shown as his final destination.

On 22 December 1945, John finally was able to put a wedding ring on the hand of Ida Brown.  The ceremony took place in Seattle (King county) WA, as had been planned two years earlier.

Witnessing their marriage were  Kermit and Virginia Sledd, themselves married just six months earlier.

But, Sledd was from Oregon with no apparent history of being in Manion's home turf of Los Angeles, CA.  Plus, Sledd was in the Navy

He was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 6) in the Pacific during the air raid on Peatl Harbor and throughout the biggest battles of the Pacific campaign.  On 14 May 1945, the ship was struck by a kamikaze Zero, killing 15 and wounding 34. Shedd was still carried on its muster roll when the ship entered Puget Sound for repairs.  It is unclear when he was mustered out of the Navy.

So, how did he and Virginia know the Manions?  It had to be that the two women became friends while their men were overseas.

One last observation - Note that John's travel order states that he is to be returned to the 508th PIR through the 3rd Reinforcement Depot which was located in Liege, Belgium. Traveling from the port of entry at Le Havre, France to Liege and then on to Frankfurt, Germany was a distance of approximately 580 miles and may have been accomplished using either government-provided transportation or civilian rail.  His actual date of return is not knwn.