Wickes then trained into the autumn, ranging from Trinidad, in the British West Indies to Casco Bay, Maine; and from Norfolk, Virginia, to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, from 1 September to 6 November.

On 6 November, Wickes departed the Boston Navy Yard in company with the small aircraft carrier Cabot (CVL-28) and sister destroyer Bell (DD-587)—their destination: the Canal Zone.

On several occasions during this training, her routine was interrupted by orders to rendezvous with and augment the screens of various task groups returning from the operations which wrested the Gilbert Islands from Japan.

On the lookout for Japanese shipping as they steamed through the Sea of Okhotsk, the task force found slim pickings before again shelling targets on Paramushiro on 4 March.

On 2 August, while TF 94 was again steaming to shell Matsuwa, Wickes made visual contact with a "snooper", a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber.

Wickes' tour in one of the most difficult operating areas on the globe finally ended when she "very happily" departed Adak, Alaska, on 7 August, headed south in company with other units of Destroyer Squadron 49 (DesRon 49).

There, she received minor repairs from the facilities and workmen of the Matson Navigation Company, under the eye of the Assistant Industrial Manager, Mare Island Navy Yard.

Underway from the west coast upon completion of repairs and alterations, Wickes set a course for Pearl Harbor once more, in company with Kimberly (DD-521), Young (DD-580), and William D. Porter (DD-579)—other units of DesRon 49.

Reaching Hawaiian waters, Wickes spent the first two weeks of September engaged in supporting landing rehearsals at Lahaina Roads, Maui, "in preparation for forthcoming operations."

Wickes subsequently spent most of November in screening operations, escorting a transport group during all phases of its replenishment run to Leyte.

Wickes remained at Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay, until the 15th, patrolling the outskirts of that body of water in company with her sister-ships of DesRon 49.

The next day, she began the return trip to the Admiralty Islands but stopped in the Huon Gulf for a landing exercise to prepare for her next slated operation.

The northbound run proved largely uneventful, except for what the ship's historian called "a moderate amount of heckling" by enemy aircraft day and night.

About one-half hour before sunrise on the morning of 10 January, a Japanese plane—a single-engined fighter—pushed over in a dive and dropped a bomb which exploded off the destroyer's starboard side, close aboard.

That brush with the enemy, and the light damage inflicted by the attacker, did not keep the ship off the "front lines", for she was soon back in action again, operating on antisubmarine patrols in Leyte Gulf during most of the time between 13 and 25 January.

On 26 January, she sortied as part of TG 78.3 and took station as escort and fighter-director ship for the passage of the task group through the Mindanao and Sulu Seas, en route to Luzon, for landings on the west coast in the vicinity of San Felipe, Zambales Province.

At sunset that day, Wickes joined her sister-ship Young in supporting the thinly armored "sweepers" off Manila Bay, retired with them that night, and returned with them the next morning.

Other destroyers and cruisers also participated in the silencing of the enemy emplacements, but Wickes' historian modestly recorded, "No claim is made by Wickes to have done the job single-handed, but it is certain that this ship's gunfire was accurate and effective, and contributed materially toward the successful result and protection of the minesweepers who were able to proceed with their task unmolested for the remainder of the day."

Between 04:00 and daylight on the 16th, Wickes steamed in company with Picking and Young, to intercept "suicide boats" that had penetrated Mariveles Bay.

Paratroops drifted down and landed on the top of the island as part of the many-faceted attack designed to destroy the enemy units heavily entrenched there.

It had afforded the ship the opportunity to observe, closely, the activities of other units: paratroops, heavy bombers, minesweepers, and ground troops alike.

After those repairs, Wickes —in company with Luce (DD-522) and Charles J. Badger—escorted the heavy cruisers Portland (CA-33) and Minneapolis (CA-36) to Ulithi, in the Carolines, departing Philippine waters on 2 March and returning eight days later on the 10th.

Wickes participated in the landing practices in Leyte Gulf for the next operation on the American timetable, the assault on Okinawa Gunto.

Activities during those days of training included duty in the tractor group "George" screen—TG 51.7—fire support drills, and ASW patrols around the transport area—all skills that would be very much needed.

On Radar Picket Station 14, about 70 miles northwest of Okinawa, Wickes vectored Marine fighters from Yontan Field to a large raid approaching from the northward.

After later turning over her fighter-director team to Gainard (DD-706), on 4 May, Wickes alternated duty on the antiaircraft screen protecting the transports off Hagushi beach with antisubmarine patrols.

In addition, Wickes may have saved the hospital ship Relief (AH-1) from serious damage when she deflected, with her gunfire, a suicider attempting to crash into the ship-of-mercy.

Other incidental occurrences that came up during the ship's time off the embattled isle of Okinawa included the rescue of five men from a raft from the fast transport Dickerson (APD-21); fishing out a crashed fighter pilot from the fleet carrier Bennington (CV-20); and exploding a drifting mine with gunfire.

The time spent there at the sprawling, busy, advance base was, truly, "a welcome rest" after the long hours of general quarters and alerts that were part and parcel of duty off Okinawa.

Making port at Pearl Harbor on 7 July, Wickes' time in Hawaiian waters proved brief; for, on the 8th, she was bound "stateside", her bow "very happily pointed" toward the Golden Gate.