Normally that would be true. However, it seems during WWII that the Navy was taking groups of men from the same general area, sent them to boot camp together and afterward assigned them to the same ships. Entire crews would be mixed but could have a large percentage from one general area of the country. The Navy would take a ship upon its next overhaul, if it had combat experience, remove a large portion of the crew and disperse them to newer ships to spread the knowledge of combat around. The overhauled ship would then take on a large number of new recruits to be trained by veterans that had remained. The Marine infantry units were doing the same thing. My Uncle was assigned to the USS Salt Lake City, and he wrote in his diary of his friends, all from south Alabama, in the crew. His brother was in the new 4th Marines (replacing the original 4th Marines captured in the Philippines.) and he spoke of many of the men in his company coming from south Alabama. Both of these brothers fought at Guam and Okinawa- one on fire support duty- the other landing on the beaches.