The stars and stripes flew proudly over Mount Suribachi as Marine forces secured the island after bitter fighting. "Tolland" and her companion AKA's in the squadron left the Bonins for a period of waiting, training, provisioning, and repairs, while American forces marshalled for the assault on an island one step closer to the Japanese homeland itself — Okinawa. Drydocked at Espiritu Santo late in February, "Tolland" then combat-loaded elements of the Army 27th Division and cleared the New Hebrides on 1 April 1945, bound for the Ryūkyūs.