sentences:  After shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, the new large infantry landing craft headed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal.Following amphibious training, "LCI(L)-963" reached the war zone in time to help return General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines with the landings on Leyte on 20 October 1944.She next participated in the Ormoc Bay landings on 7 December, and the invasion of Mindoro a week later.