preinvasion training off Salerno in June and early July, the "Camel" force, of which Betelgeuse was part, formed up at Palermo and set out for the southern coast of France. The invasion of Provence proved to be a quiet and quick operation. She remained in the invasion area only two days to unload her cargo at Red Beach in the Golfe de Frejus. The ship then made five more trips from ports in North Africa to points along the French and Italian coasts carrying equipment and troops to feed the Allied advances. 1945, Pacific The cargo ship departed the Mediterranean on 25 September 1944 and returned to the United States to have improved communications and radar gear installed. On New Year's Day 1945, she got underway for the Pacific theater. After transiting the Panama Canal and steaming to Hawaii, Betelgeuse took on a load of Army cargo at Pearl Harbor and steamed to Guadalcanal for practice landings in preparation for the invasion of the Ryukyus. She then stopped at Ulithi for fuel and more provisions, before heading for Okinawa. Betelgeuse stood off the Hagushi beaches on D-Day, 1 April, and began unloading her cargo. Her labors proceeded smoothly and efficiently until the 6th, when the Japanese mounted major kamikaze air attacks. During the ensuing raids, four of her men received minor wounds from flying shell fragments; but the ship herself sustained only minor damage from strafing. On 9 April, Betelgeuse departed Okinawa and headed for Port Chicago, California, whence she made two shuttle runs carrying ammunition to Pearl Harbor before the war ended. Upon learning of Japan's surrender on 15 August, Betelgeuse sailed from San Francisco for the Philippines to embark troops at Lingayen Gulf, Manila, and Batangas for occupation duty in Otaru on Hokkaidō in Japan. After that task, she returned to the Philippines, at Samar, where she embarked Seabees for passage to China. Arriving at Tientsin on 10 November, she received orders that sent her to Guam, Pearl Harbor, and San Francisco to carry returning soldiers home in time for Christmas. Betelgeuse departed the west coast on 28 December and headed for New York. She was decommissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard on 15 March 1946, and her name was struck from the Navy List on 28 March. Refitted for merchant service, she operated as Mormaclark until sold on 27 June 1947 to Compania de La Paloma,