Invasion of Makin

Following a dress rehearsal, Pierce sailed as a unit of the task force assigned to capture, occupy and defend the Japanese held island of Makin, Gilbert Islands.

Off the western end of Makin 20 November 1943, Pierce made her first assault landing. During the night of the 23rd the Japanese made their final banzai charge. In the early pre-dawn hours of the next morning there was a terrific explosion and huge pillars of flame shot skyward as the escort carrier Liscome Bay was torpedoed.

With Makin secured, Pierce's boats and LSTs brought back to the ship the ragged, weary assault troops of the 27th Infantry Division.

Invasion of Kwajalein

Arriving in Pearl Harbor 2 December the transport discharged her troops and spent the next week overhauling equipment and boats. Pierce was occupied for the ensuing five weeks off Maui, T.H., training some 200 officers and 4000 enlisted men of the Army and Marine Corps in the art of amphibious warfare.

Carrying men of the 7th Infantry Division, Pierce got underway for Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands 22 January 1944. Kwajalein's capture, following the same pattern as that of Makin only on a much larger scale, was achieved within a week. During the night of 3 February Pierce sent five boats to one of the smaller islands to evacuate approximately 150 Army troops trapped by the enemy. Under enemy fire the boats were loaded with troops and returned through the reef to the lagoon.

Upon departure from Kwajalein 8 February, Pierce went to the Naval Repair Base, San Diego, California for overhaul.

Invasion of Saipan

On 14 March she commenced the training of three landing teams of the 81st Infantry Division, totaling some 200 officers and 4,000 enlisted men. This training took place at Coronado Strand, San Clemente Island and Aliso Canyon, California, and consumed the next six weeks.

Once again, 1 May, she sailed for Pearl Harbor, this time to exercise a battalion landing team of the 4th Marines in preparation for the pending operation. All preparations being completed, the ship stood out of Pearl Harbor 29 May and joined other units of a task force en route to Saipan, Marianas Islands. Pierce, as a combat loaded assault transport, was a unit of the Northern Attack Group and was assigned the mission of landing assault troops and equipment in the vicinity of Charan-Kanoa, Saipan. Pierce completed the unloading of all assault troops and their equipment 15 June. Enemy activity lessened after two hours and Pierce was ordered to close the reef to receive casualties and discharge cargo.

Invasion of Palaus

For the next three weeks Pierce made repairs, trained troops of the 81st Infantry Division, and enjoyed a brief breather from forward area activities. On 12 August Pierce sailed with a task force to Guadalcanal, which was reached on the 24th. After two rehearsals at Guadalcanal she departed for the assault on Angaur in the Palau Islands.

In the Palau Islands on the morning of 15 September, while the 1st Marine Division landed on the island of Peleliu, Pierce in company with the Angaur Attack Force made a diversionary feint along the east coast of Babelthuap Island, keeping out of range of shore batteries. The invasion of Angaur commenced two days later. Upon completion of the unloading Pierce went to Manus, Admiralty Islands, which was reached on 28 September.

Invasion of Leyte

By 8 October personnel of the 1st Cavalry Division were embarked and all equipment loaded. After staging a rehearsal landing the task force of which Pierce was a unit sailed 12 October for the initial assault on Leyte in the Philippines. She reached Leyte Island on the morning of 20 October after passing through enemy mine fields in Surigao Straits. Movement to the objective was uneventful. Evening found the ship underway standing out through mine fields to the open sea. On 23 October she was anchored in Kossol Passage, Palau Islands with several hundred miles separating her from the Japanese fleets converging on Leyte Gulf.

On 28 October the ship began a long tour of Pacific outposts, stopping first at Guam, Marianas to load personnel and equipment of the 77th Infantry Division and sailing from there to Nouméa, New Caledonia. Orders were changed en route on 11 November and she headed west to Manus.

Invasion of Luzon

That afternoon she sailed from Sansapor with a task group bound for the initial assault on Luzon, Philippine Islands, at Lingayen Gulf. The trip was not without excitement as each dawn and dusk brought enemy planes over the disposition, but no hits were scored on Pierce.

Invasion of Okinawa

Personnel and equipment of the 7th Infantry Division were loaded by 10 March. After the usual rehearsal Pierce departed Leyte with a task group amidst high seas and headed for Okinawa Jima, Nansei Shoto. Except for aircraft which appeared in the vicinity only to be promptly shot down, the trip was uneventful. Pierce stood into the transport area off Okinawa on the morning of 1 April. As the ship was retiring for the night Japanese planes got through the combat air patrol, one kamikaze crashing into a transport about 800 yards on Pierce's starboard beam.

On the following day the ship continued unloading, then retired for the night and completed unloading the next day. On 5 April Pierce was ordered to sail with other unloaded transports to Guam, whence she continued on to California.

After hostilities

During the next ten weeks the ship was overhauled in San Francisco. Pierce then went to San Diego for refresher training. While the ship was again en route to the war zone, with Eniwetok only a few hundred miles away, the electrifying "cease all offensive operations" message was received 15 August 1945. Pausing in the Philippines, Pierce continued on to the Japanese home islands and to Korea for occupation duty. She returned to San Francisco 13 November, only to put to sea again on the 30th bound for Manila.

At Manila 19–23 December the transport was loaded with home-bound veterans, then crossed the Pacific to make San Francisco 11 January 1946. Pierce departed 21 January, transited the Panama Canal and arrived at New Orleans 6 February.

Decommission

Pierce decommissioned at Mobile, Alabama, 11 March 1946. She was struck from the Navy List 17 April 1946 and delivered to the Maritime Commission for further disposal 2 May 1946. She was sold to her former owner 28 July 1947.

Awards

Pierce received six battle stars for World War II service.