accomplished the transfer at 0616 and then cleared the area rapidly to avoid the waves of landing craft forming for the run to the beach. The warship screened the transports for the remainder of the first day of the Okinawa landings and, after being relieved of that duty the following dawn, visited "White" beach for a conference between UDT-21's commanding officer and the beachmaster on post-assault demolition needs. Bunch then left the beachhead at 1500 and took up night screening station A-20. Around dusk, however, she went to general quarters after observing a small convoy under attack by five enemy planes. Bunch took two of them under fire despite the fact that they were just out of range. One crashed the attack transport , and the other started a run on Bunch but turned away when she opened fire. Instead, he tried to bomb but missed. At that point, he turned and crashed Dickerson. The fire on board Dickerson grew rapidly as Bunch maneuvered to help but was "fairly well under control" by 1930. Seeing that she was "receiving considerable structural damage" alongside the stricken ship, Bunch pulled away but sent a fire and rescue party over in one of her LCPRs. In the meantime, UDT-21 swimmers used their rubber boats to rescue many of the Dickerson survivors forced over the side by the flames. Back on board Dickersion where the fire had burst forth again, Bunchs fire and rescue party – aided by a contingent from Crosley – succeeded in getting gasoline-driven handy-billies in operation to battle them. Bunch passed a towline and three fire hoses across to Dickerson and began to tow her, while men cut away Dickersons port-side boats to lessen the list. Soon, however, the towline and hoses parted, and the salvagers lost their hard-won gains when the fires broke out with renewed vigor as a result. To make matters worse, a freshening wind made getting another hawser across to her even more difficult. Eventually, arrived, took Dickerson in tow, put out her fires, and brought her into Kerama Retto. After screening Arikara and Dickerson to Kerama Retto and transferring 61 survivors to PCE-852, Bunch returned to station A-20 where the rest of the day passed mercifully quietly. On the afternoon of 4 April, Bunch steamed to Kerama Retto where she relieved as flagship for TG 52.11 comprising all fast transports present in the Okinawa area.