Over the next few days, enemy air power did its best to thwart the landings. Almost continuous air attacks harried the ships offshore on the evening of 9 July. On the 12th, she spent most of the day loading ammunition. On the 13th, she beached at Beach Red 1 and spent much of the day there, unloading the remainder of her cargo. At 2150 that day, an enemy plane dropped four bombs nearby. The closest landed on her starboard beam about away, but it caused no damage. Underway for Bizerte on 16 July, LST-389 arrived there two days later for 10 days of repairs. She then sailed for Licata, Sicily and from that port made three trips to Palermo to lift Army troops and vehicles. Late in August, LST-389 was fitted with a pontoon causeway section to be used during the invasion of the Italian mainland. She got underway on 1 September and soon joined a convoy for Italy. On the night of 8 September, on her way to the landing beaches, LST-389 observed two twin-engine German bombers attack accompanying minesweepers, narrowly missing them. For the balance of the night, frequent air raids prompted equally frequent orders to general quarters, but the tank landing ship survived many near misses without a scratch.