With 1,345 Marines of the 47th Replacement Battalion and 195 Seabees embarked, she departed Naval Base Norfolk 18 March for the Pacific, arriving Pearl Harbor 7 April.

With the United States now controlling many of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Leon and elements of the 4th Marine Division practiced and rehearsed almost 2 months for the next leapfrog into the Marianas.

Departing 15 March with members of the 11th Special Construction Battalion and 6th Marine Division, including a platoon of war dogs, she arrived off the Okinawa landing area on Easter Sunday, D-Day, 1 April.

The night of 4 April, in a high wind, she slipped a dragging anchor and worked her way skillfully through the crowded anchorage to sea and the next day departed for Saipan.

Leon proceeded on to Ulithi and Okinawa where she took on board 1,169 men of the Army's 7th Infantry Division destined to accept the surrender of the Japanese in South Korea.

Leon and sister ships of Vice Adm. D. E. Barbey's 7th Amphibious Force were involved in this operation, bringing Marines from Okinawa to Tientsin, China, 30 September and carrying Chinese troops from Hong Kong to Chinwangtao 30 October and Qingdao 14 November.

At Sasebo, Japan, as part of Operation Magic Carpet, she embarked 5th Marine Division veterans and sailed 9 December for San Diego, arriving Christmas Day, with happy passengers and crew.