Fireman First Class Buckley was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for displaying exceptional courage in attempting to salvage the German blockade runner Karin which had been intercepted by his ship, the destroyer USS Eberle on 10 March 1943.

Dennis J. Buckley departed New York on 1 March 1949 for a brief period of operations on the west coast, returning to the Canal Zone 10 May for exercises in Caribbean waters.

During her second Far Eastern tour, in 1957, she screened Princeton (CV-37), patrolled off Taiwan briefly, and served as flagship for Commander, Destroyer Flotillas, western Pacific, during October, when she was visited by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh A. Burke.

Local operations engaged Dennis J. Buckley until 23 August 1958 when she again sailed for the Far East where she joined Task Force 72 (TF 72) to resupply Nationalist Chinese holding the Quemoy Islands against the threat of Communist seizure.

She returned to Long Beach on 11 March 1960 for operations until May, underwent a three-month overhaul, and then resumed west coast duty for the remainder of the year.