"Gillis" continued her varied duties as aircraft tender and air-sea rescue patrol ship throughout the Aleutian Campaign. Brief intervals of repair were accomplished in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She terminated this service 19 April 1944 when she departed Dutch Harbor for overhaul in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She arrived at San Diego 13 June and spent the following months as plane guard for aircraft carriers training along the California coast. She was then routed on to Pearl Harbor, arriving 8 December 1944. She operated in Hawaiian waters as plane guard for escort carrier "Makassar Strait" (CVE-91) until 20 February 1945. She then sailed with Rear Admiral Morton L. Deyo's Gunfire and Covering Force, en route via the Marshalls, Marianas and Ulithi for the invasion of Okinawa.