the autumn of 1961, the biggest troop-lift for MSTS since the s:Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953. In February 1963, General William O. Darby brought back from Bremerhaven two paintings loaned temporarily to the United States from the French Louvre, Whistler's Mother and La Madeleine. Scheduled to be shown at a succession of art galleries from New York to Atlanta, the two art treasures were met upon arrival at Pier 4, Brooklyn Army Terminal, by cultural attaches from the French embassy. With the buildup of American strength in South Vietnam in 1965, all six MSTS (Atlantic) transports, including General William O. Darby, were withdrawn from the New York-to-Bremerhaven run and assigned to duty in the Pacific. Transatlantic sailings were canceled in late July 1965. General William O. Darby and her sister ship, , carried out the longest point-to-point trooplift in MSTS history when they arrived at Vung Tau, South Vietnam, on 13 August 1966 with 3,124 troops embarked between them, having sailed from Boston a voyage of 12,358 miles. They had departed the east coast on 15 July, transited the Panama Canal on the 20th, and fueled at Long Beach on the 27th. The longest leg of the voyage was non-stop, Long Beach to Vung Tau, a distance of some . The Pacific leg of the trip was for the most part smooth for the whole crossing with the exception of a day or two of 15 foot swells. Since there were no docking facilities in Vung Tau, the troops were transported to shore on landing craft. Placed in reserve at Caven Point Army Depot in New York harbor in 1968, General William O. Darby was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 January 1969 and transferred to the Maritime Commission's reserve fleet. At one point in 1976, the state of Maryland expressed an interest in alleviating its overcrowded correctional facilities by the use of the ship. Vehement objections to the retention of the name of the Army war hero on a ship designated to incarcerate prisoners apparently arose, contributing in large part to the cancellation of the ship's name on 6 July 1976. The ship, herself, now merely the unnamed T-AP-127, remained on the Naval Vessel Register. Awards World War II Victory Medal Navy Occupation Medal with "EUROPE" clasp National Defense Service Medal with star Korean Service Medal Vietnam Campaign Medal with one battle star United Nations Service Medal