She engaged in an offensive sweep against the Tokyo Express, and received Presidential Unit Citation for the rescue of 468 survivors from the cruiser USS Helena, which had been sunk at Kula Gulf.

The destroyer was damaged by a Japanese mine while supporting the liberation of Luzon in December 1944 and received a Presidential Unit Citation from the Philippine government.

In 1960, Radford underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM II) overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.

In October and December Radford served as an alternate recovery ship in Project Gemini and participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out naval gunfire support (NGFS) missions during the Vietnam War from 1965 through 1969.

During this period, she participated in anti-submarine operations, escorted aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, had two tours of duty on NGFS missions, a turn on the Taiwan patrol, served as forward picket for the Seventh Fleet units operating in the South China Sea and escorted President Lyndon B. Johnson's support units to Malaysia during his tour of southeast Asia.