Launched on 11 October 1944, the attack transport Menard (APA-201) was commissioned on 31 October 1944. The Menard arrived in mid-March 1945 at Leyte Gulf, where she prepared for the upcoming invasion of Okinawa and set sail for the Ryukyus, arriving there on 1 April 1945. In the face of intense Japanese suicide and bombing attacks, the Menard unloaded her cargo. On 6 April, she was able to destroy an attacking enemy suicide plane off her starboard side seconds before it would have struck her hull.
On 9 April, she left Okinawa’s waters and sailed back to Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 25 April 1945. She practiced for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands before sailing to San Francisco and embarking more than 1,000 troops. She then sailed for the Philippines on 30 May 1945.
Following the end of hostilities with Japan, the Menard carried some 1,500 occupation troops to Japan, arriving at the devastated city of Nagasaki on 23 September.
For the next several months, the Menard continued shuttling troops back and forth between the vast Pacific Ocean area and the continental United States. In late 1946, the Menard was placed in reserve status. She was decommissioned on 14 June 1948.
The Menard was recommissioned on 2 December 1950 to assist with the Korean War effort. She sailed for Korea in 1951 and operated between U.S., Japanese, and Korean ports for more than three years, supplying vital stores to U.S. forces in Korea fighting against the communist North. As part of the Seventh Fleet, she sailed off Vietnam in 1954, shuttling supplies and transporting refugees.
The following year, on 1 July 1955, the Menard steamed into Long Beach, California, for her deactivation. She was decommissioned on 18 October 1955 and her name was stricken from the Navy list on 1 September 1961.
USS Menard (APA-201)
By Eric Wertheim
—Eric Wertheim