Getting underway on 8 August 1944, "Abner Read" made a trip to Sydney, Australia, before returning to the Pacific. The destroyer supported the US Army landing on 15 September 1944 at Morotai Island in the Halmahera group. Her next action was a shore bombardment of Ponam Island in the Admiralty Islands on 7 October 1944. On 17 October 1944, she began steaming toward Leyte Gulf entering San Pedro Bay on 20 October 1944, for invasion of Leyte and patrolled off the beachheads in ensuing days.