At New York the destroyer escort received the newest in equipment and armament in preparation for the Pacific War, then about to enter its final stages. She sailed on 10 November 1944 with Escort Division 76, bound for the Panama Canal, the Galápagos Islands, and eventually the Society Islands. "Jesse Rutherford" arrived at Bora Bora on 5 December and departed the next day for the large American staging base on Manus Island. From there the ship was assigned to escort convoys from Hollandia through the Leyte Gulf in support of the Allied campaign to recapture the Philippines.