to return from that mission. For his part in the battle Vammen was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Construction and commissioningVammen was laid down on 1 August 1943 at San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation; launched on 21 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Earle Morgan, aunt of the late Ensign Vammen; and commissioned on 27 July 1944. World War II Following commissioning, Vammen fitted out through mid-August 1944 and later conducted her shakedown out of San Diego, California, into late September before undergoing a post-shakedown availability at her builder's yard. Underway for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 13 October, the new destroyer escort convoyed SS Phillipa to the Hawaiian Islands before reporting for duty to Commander, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, on 21 October. For the remainder of October and all of November, the destroyer escort trained out of Pearl Harbor, operating in company with various submarines and aircraft carriers, perfecting techniques of anti-submarine warfare and escort duty. She then escorted SS Cushman Davis via Funafuti in the Ellice Islands to Espiritu Santo, before she steamed independently to Pearl Harbor, arriving at the Pacific Fleet's main base three days after Christmas 1944.Vammen plane-guarded for early in January 1945 before escorting the merchantman SS Exira to Eniwetok in the Marshalls from 9 to 16 January. While returning to Pearl Harbor, Vammen responded to a radio request for assistance from which had an ill crewman. The destroyer escort rendezvoused with the landing ship at sea on 20 January and took the sick man on board. The following day, off Johnston Island, Vammen transferred the man to a hospital boat, sent from that outpost, for medical treatment ashore. The destroyer escort arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 23 January. At the end of the month, Vammen sailed for the Marshall Islands, escorting Convoy PD-278-T, consisting of the attack transports and . Departing Pearl Harbor on 30 January, PD-278-T arrived at Eniwetok on 7 February. Vammen headed for Hawaii the next day and, on the 10th, relieved as escort for the escort carriers and en route. They subsequently reached Pearl Harbor on 17 February. The destroyer escort conducted one more convoy escort run to the Marshalls before she participated in her first major action. She shepherded PD-310-T, which consisted of the attack transports , , and , from 22 February to 2 March, the day of their arrival at Eniwetok. Three