There she received orders to rendezvous with convoy Task Unit 116.15.3 as the flagship of Commander Escort Division 39, and to head for Espiritu Santo New Hebrides Islands.

In mid-February, she escorted Shasta (AE-6) to Purvis Bay, Florida Island, in the Solomons, and then took up patrol station off Guadalcanal two days later.

After escorting Alnitah (AK-127) to Torokina Point on Bougainville, she rounded out the month patrolling off Blanche Harbor, Treasury Island, and off Purvis Bay.

In late May, Spangler sailed from Tulagi to the Admiralty Islands with a supply of hedgehog depth charges for her sister destroyer escorts England (DE-635), Raby (DE-698), and George (DE-697).

However, she was employed in this role only briefly, and soon returned to Purvis Bay and escort duty, and, for the remainder of 1944, screened ships shuttling to Kossol Passage, Ulithi, and Guam.

On 4 September, after returning to Guam from Okinawa, Spangler got underway, in company with Raby, and headed back to the United States.

The two destroyer escorts stopped at Pearl Harbor on 22 September; then continued on to San Pedro, Los Angeles, for overhaul.

After overhaul, Spangler departed the west coast on 20 February 1946 to return to the Western Pacific, via Pearl Harbor and Guam.

Spangler put in at Okinawa on 19 November, and remained until 1 February 1947, when she got underway in company with Osmus (DE-701) and Currier (DE-700) to return to the United States.

Spangler was deployed for six months, during which time she visited Sasebo, Japan; Hong Kong; and Subic Bay in the Philippines.

With the exception of one short trip to Long Beach and back in mid-September, Spangler spent the remainder of 1956 in port at San Diego.

On 8 October 1958, Spangler was decommissioned at Astoria, Oregon, and joined the Columbia River Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.