Her primary purpose was to escort and protect ships in convoys; other tasks assigned included patrol and radar picket.

In the language of his citation, "although mortally wounded by the fragments of a bursting bomb, he displayed outstanding courage and a loyal determination to keep his gun in action despite his injured condition, and valiantly remained at his station "loading shells into fuse pots" until he collapsed on the deck."

At New York the destroyer escort received the newest in equipment and armament in preparation for the Pacific War, then about to enter its final stages.

From there the ship was assigned to escort convoys from Hollandia through Leyte Gulf in support of the Allied campaign to recapture the Philippines.

Jesse Rutherford escorted a group of LCTs to Okinawa, arriving 15 September, after which she returned to the Philippines for patrol duty.

The veteran destroyer escort embarked returning troops at Samar on 28 November 1945 and sailed that afternoon for San Diego, California, where she decommissioned on 21 June 1946.