After shakedown and training along the West Coast, Menard embarked troops and loaded cargo at Port Hueneme, California, before sailing for Hawaiian waters 4 January 1945.

Arriving 10 January, she participated in amphibious training exercises out of Pearl Harbor until 22 February when she joined a convoy bound for the western Pacific.

She touched at American bases in the Marshalls, the Carolines, and the Palaus, and on 16 March reached Leyte Gulf, Philippines, where she staged for the impending invasion of Okinawa.

Menard closed the coast of Okinawa early 1 April and boatloaded her assault troops for the amphibious sweep to the invasion beaches.

Thence, she began off-loading support cargo; despite numerous antishipping strikes by Japanese bombing and suicide planes, she continued these vital supply operations during the next week.

After intensive shakedown, she steamed to the Far East in early 1951 to support the movement of men and supplies to the war-torn Korean peninsula.

As a unit of the ever-vigilant 7th Fleet, she steamed to the troubled waters of Vietnam and during the latter part of 1954, participated in the vital "Passage-to-Freedom" operations.

During this period, she made runs from Communist controlled North Vietnam and carried refugees and supplies to freedom in the South.