Departing Trinidad on 2 June, she rendezvoused at Barbados with a merchantman carrying one of the first loads of Barbadians to the United States to relieve the wartime farm labor shortage, and escorted the ship safely to Miami.

[2] Subsequently, following repairs at Boston, Gunason reached Casco Bay, Maine on 25 June and joined sister destroyer escorts bound for Hampton Roads, where all arrived 2 July to form Task Force 61.

Gunason served with this task force until early 1945, making three transatlantic escort voyages out of Hampton Roads to Bizerte, Plymouth, and Oran respectively from 4 July 1944 to 8 January 1945.

A round trip escort voyage thence to Leyte in March set the pattern she was to follow for the next three months—escorting convoys entering and departing Philippine waters—supporting the United States' efforts in the Pacific.

[2] The ship departed Subic Bay on 26 July in company with three destroyer escorts and a flotilla of landing craft bound for Okinawa, arriving nine days later.