equipment at Da Nang, South Vietnam, on 26 May. On 18 June she helped rescue survivors from the midair collision of two Guam-based B-52s. In July she landed Marines at Qui Nhơn, South Vietnam, and in early August helped salvage , aground on Pratas Reef. In late August she took part in Operation Starlite, an amphibious raid at Van Tuong, South Vietnam, which inflicted heavy enemy casualties. After another successful amphibious landing, she returned home on 24 November. Point Defiance again departed for the western Pacific on 27 March 1966, and began transporting troops and equipment from U.S. bases in the Far East to South Vietnam. She returned to Long Beach on 24 June, but deployed to South Vietnam again on 1 November. On 11 January 1967 Point Defiance participated in "Deckhouse V", a major U.S. operation in the Kien Hoa area. On 18 May she sent U.S. Marines on to the beach in the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone, exchanging fire with North Vietnamese shore batteries. She returned to Long Beach on 24 June. On 7 May 1968 Point Defiance was off on another deployment to the western Pacific, once again with an amphibious ready group off Vietnam. She returned to Long Beach on 18 December. In the summer of 1969, "Point Defiance" carried a contingent of Naval Academy Midshipmen from San Diego to Seattle to Honolulu and back to San Diego. In 1972 the Point Defiance was again part of a Ready Group off the coast of Vietnam. It was part of a helicopter assault behind People's Army of Vietnam lines off the coast of northern South Vietnam in the area of Huế during the Easter Offensive of 1972. [1968-2011] Decommissioning, 1983–2011 Point Defiance was decommissioned on 30 September 1983 and her name struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 24 February 1992. She was sold to Pegasus Inc., on 29 September 1995, but repossessed by the Navy, 1 July 1997. Custody was transferred to Maritime Administration (MARAD), 18 December 1998, and she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benicia, California. On 28 July 2011, Point Defiance was sold by MARAD to All Star Metals of Brownsville, Tx for $578,539 to be dismantled. Point Defiance departed the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet on 8 September to be cleaned by Allied Defense Recycling at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Point Defiance was towed