"Gillis" arrived off Kerama Retto 25 March 1945. She guarded minesweepers to the west, then stood by underwater demolition teams clearing approaches to the western beaches of Okinawa. After invasion forces stormed ashore 1 April, she tended observation and patrol planes at Kerama Retto and performed air-sea rescue patrol. On 28 April she departed Okinawa in the screen of "Makassar Strait", bound via Guam to San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands. She returned by the same route in the escort screen of "Wake Island" (CVE-65). That carrier launched planes 29 June to land bases on Okinawa and "Gillis" helped escort her back to Guam 3 July 1945.