[1][2] Winged Arrow, U.S. Official Number 244287, was delivered to the War Shipping Administration on 12 June 1943 as a freighter operated for the WSA by its agent McCormick Steamship Company under a General Agency Agreement (GAA).

[1][3][4] On 30 April, Winged Arrow put to sea with a full complement of Army replacement troops, bound for Oahu where she arrived on 6 May.

[1] After a somewhat lengthy wait at Eniwetok occasioned by the unexpectedly difficult task of rooting out the defenders of Saipan, Winged Arrow returned to the island on 19 July and retracted units of the 2nd Marine Division for the Tinian assault.

Upon concluding the feint, Winged Arrow transported the marines back around to waters off the actual invasion beaches where they remained in the floating reserve.

[1] Winged Arrow then embarked passengers, including 458 Japanese prisoners of war, at Saipan for transportation to Pearl Harbor.

She departed San Diego on 21 September and, after stops at Pearl Harbor and Majuro, disembarked her passengers at Roi islet in Kwajalein Atoll on 15 October.

During her stay at Lingayen Gulf, Winged Arrow was straddled by bombs and near-misses by a kamikaze who crashed close aboard her bow, but she performed her part in the operation without suffering casualties or damage.

After about a week at Leyte, the transport carried more reinforcements to Luzon, landing them just north of Subic Bay at La Paz.

Continuing her voyage, she stopped at recently invaded Iwo Jima where she embarked units of the 5th Marine Division for transportation to Hawaii.

After disembarking the marines at Hilo and spending from 12 to 17 April in the islands, she resumed her voyage to the west coast of the United States and entered San Francisco Bay on the 23rd.

She made brief calls at Eniwetok and Ulithi before arriving at her destination, Leyte, on the day of the actual surrender ceremony, 2 September 1945.

She arrived at Saipan in the Marianas in mid-October and picked up more returning troops there and at Guam and Tinian before getting underway on the 27th to transport them back to the United States.

This time, her destination was Jinsen, Korea, where she arrived on 13 December and probably disembarked occupation troops before heading back to the United States on the 15th.

Winged Arrow left Hong Kong on 22 February; stopped along the way at Guam, Truk, and Wake Island; and reentered Seattle on 29 March.