USS Marion County (LST-975) - World War II

World War II

After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, LST-975 departed New York on 27 March 1945 for the Pacific, via the Panama Canal, arriving Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 1 May for amphibious warfare exercises in the Maui area. She steamed to Seattle, Washington, arriving on 13 June to embark 119 Army troops and equipment. Sailing on 28 June via Hawaii, Eniwetok, and Saipan, she arrived Okinawa on 17 August, two days after the Japanese surrender.

On the 23rd she got underway for Saipan to embark men and equipment of the 2nd Marine Division for the occupation of Japan. LST-975 reached Nagasaki on 24 September and began unloading. Two days later she continued on to the Philippines, entering San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, on 7 October. LST-975 again got underway for Japan six days later, embarked men and equipment of the United States Army's 52nd Field Artillery Battalion at Mindanao en route, and arrived at Maysuyama on 25 October to disembark passengers and cargo. She returned to the Philippines from Honshū the 29th, mooring at Manila on 6 November. The ship spent the next five months conveying troops and equipment between the various ports of the Philippines until she decommissioned in Subic Bay, Luzon, on 16 April 1946 and was turned over to the Army for operations in the Far East.