USS Marion County (LST-975) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation. She was later named after counties in seventeen U.S. states, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name. Construction LST-975 was laid down on 1 December 1944, at Hingham, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard; launched on 6 January 1945; sponsored by Miss Alice J. Varian; and commissioned on 3 February 1945. Service history World War II After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, LST-975 departed New York, on 27 March 1945, for the Pacific, via the Panama Canal. She arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 1 May, for amphibious warfare exercises in the Maui area. She steamed to Seattle, Washington, arriving on 13 June to embark 119 US Army troops and equipment. Sailing on 28 June, via Hawaii, Eniwetok, and Saipan, she arrived Okinawa, on 17 August, two days after the Japanese surrender. On 23 August, she got underway for Saipan, to embark men and equipment of the 2nd Marine Division for the occupation of Japan. LST-975 reached Nagasaki, on 24 September, and began unloading. Two days later she continued on to the Philippines, entering San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, on 7 October. LST-975 again got underway for Japan six days later, embarked men and equipment of the Army's 52nd Field Artillery Battalion at Mindanao, en route, and arrived at Maysuyama, on 25 October, to disembark passengers and cargo. She returned to the Philippines from Honshū, 29 October, mooring at Manila, on 6 November. The ship spent the next five months conveying troops and equipment between the various ports of the Philippines until she decommissioned in Subic Bay, Luzon, on 16 April 1946, and was turned over to the Army for operations in the Far East. Korean War LST-975 was still in service there when at 04:00 on 25 June 1950, the North Korean People's Army struck south across the 38th Parallel. On 27 June, President Harry S. Truman ordered American naval and air support of the Republic of Korea. That afternoon the Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to assist in repelling the North Korean attack. With the need for shipping for an immediate large-scale lift of troops and supplies, LST-975 was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS)