That afternoon, the transport sailed for Oahu. "Braxton" arrived at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 10 May, but sailed the following morning for the U.S. West Coast. Although initially ordered to San Diego, she was redirected to San Francisco en route and disembarked 120 Marines and 217 casualties there on 17 May. After brief voyage repairs, the ship then shifted to the Naval Supply Depot at Oakland, California, where she loaded a cargo of fuel, ammunition, and supplies, before sailing for Hawaii on 30 May. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 5 June, the attack transport disembarked passengers from the U.S. West Coast and embarked 5 army officers and 296 enlisted men for the voyage westward, returning to sea on the 8th bound for the Marshalls. Following a stop at Eniwetok on 15 and 16 June, she pushed on to Saipan, remained there from the 19th through the 26th, and finally headed on to Ulithi. Underway from that atoll on 20 July in convoy UOK 39, consisting of 40 ships—both merchant and naval—the vessel arrived at Okinawa soon thereafter and discharged her cargo near Kinmu Wan on 25 July. While "Braxton" remained at Okinawa for the remainder of the month, wartime conditions were very much in evidence. As her war diary for 27 July states: "enemy planes definitely in [the] vicinity..." The presence of the Japanese planes usually triggered the use of smoke boats and shipboard generators to screen the ship in artificial fog. Such conditions continued into August, but the arrival of a typhoon forced the ship to sea on the 1st for two days to ride out the "blow." Early on the 6th, the ship weighed anchor and sailed for Ulithi, joining convoy 0KU-17—34 ships and 11 escorts. Upon her arrival there on the 10th, she fueled from and received orders to sail for Saipan. Underway on 13 August, she had not gone far before she received orders re-routing her to Guam. "Braxton" moored in Apra Harbor on 14 August and commenced loading cargo and embarking passengers. All through the night and most of the morning, the embarking and loading continued until shortly before noon. Underway on the 15th, "Braxton" stood out of Apra Harbor, bound for Japan. She then formed up with , , , , , and a trio of destroyers to make up Task Unit (TU) 12.1.2.