USS General George M . Randall ( AP - 115 ) USS " General George M . Randall " ( AP - 115 ) was a " General John Pope " class troop transport which served with the United States Navy in World War II and the postwar era . She was named after Major General George Morton Randall , an American Civil War hero , and veteran of the Indian wars of the 1880s and the Philippines in the early 1900s . " General George M . Randall " was launched at the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company , in Kearny , New Jersey , as Maritime Commission hull 673 on 30 January 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract ; sponsored by Mrs . Adele Lovett , wife of the Assistant Secretary of War for Air Robert A . Lovett ; acquired and simultaneously commissioned on 15 April 1944 , with Captain Carl C . von Paulsen , USCG , in command . She left the yard on 25 April 1944 , for shakedown in Chesapeake Bay . The ship was manned by a US Coast Guard crew in the war . World War II . " General George M . Randall " sailed from Norfolk , Virginia , on 23 May 1944 with nearly 5 , 000 troops and casuals aboard , and sailing through the Panama Canal , put in at Bombay , India , on 5 July via Panama and Australia . She left Melbourne , Australia on 28 July , and arrived in San Pedro , California , on 12 August to debark over 2 , 000 wounded veteran s . She made two more round - trip voyages from San Pedro to Bombay , via Melbourne , from 30 August 1944 to 28 February 1945 . On one trip from 19 December 1944 to 2 January 1945 , she carried the 596th Air Engineering Squadron from San Pedro to Hobart , Tasmania , and then on to Bombay . On one of these trips , one of the Army passengers wrote a song " The General George M . Randall Blues " for a variety show en route . After debarking passengers , she moved to drydock for repairs and alterations , including the mounting of additional 20mm guns . On 7 March 1945 Captain Lee H . Baker , USCG , reported on board , and on 12 March relieved Captain von Paulsen , who retired for health reasons . Moving to San Diego on 22 March , she embarked passengers for Pearl Harbor and Ulithi and sailed for San Francisco , California , where she embarked more Navy casuals for Pearl Harbor and Ulithi . She then sailed for Pearl Harbor on 27 March . Pearl Harbor was reached on 2 April , and after debarking passengers she picked up more passengers for Ulithi and sailed on 4 April . Arriving there on 14 April , she acted as receiving ship until 23 May , redistributing some 4711 Navy and Marine casuals to other fleet units . She sailed for San Francisco on 23 May with 459 Navy , Coast Guard , and Marine casuals returning to the states , and arrived there on 5 June 1945 . The ship stood out under the Golden Gate on 8 June 1945 for Norfolk , passing through the Panama Canal again , and arriving there on 20 June . She sailed from Norfolk on 8 July for Marseille , where she arrived on 17 July . There she embarked over 5100 troops for redeployment in the Pacific theater in preparartion of the invasion of Japan . She departed on 19 July , passing through the Panama Canal for the third time , with the destination of Okinawa . She arrived at Eniwetok on 16 August 1945 where she re - fueled , and left for Ulithi on 17 August . She departed Ulithi on 21 August with two other transports escorted by a destroyer escort . As the war had ended , she was directed to offload her troops at Manila rather than continue on to Okinawa . She arrived at Manila on 26 August , debarked the troops she was carrying , and loaded Army , Marine , and Coast Guard casuals for return to the United States . She took aboard more at Tacloban , then arrived at Ulithi on 6 September where she loaded still more . She departed Ulithi on 9 September heading for San Francisco , but was diverted in route to San Pedro , California , where she arrived on 21 September . While at San Pedro , on 25 September Captain Harold G . Belford , USCG , relieved Captain Baker as commanding officer . After hostilities . As part of the " Magic - Carpet " fleet , " General George M . Randall " made six voyages from San Francisco and San Diego , California to the Far East , calling at Japan , China , Okinawa , and the Philippines . The first two of these trips were to re - patriate Japanese diplomats and their families back to Japan . On the first , she left San Pedro for Long Beach on 8 October 1945 , and from there sailed on 18 October for Yokohama , Japan , where she arrived 29 October . She returned to Seattle on 12 November , loaded with returning service personnel , and sailed once more for Yokohama on 25 November . She arrived there on 10 December , and returned to Seattle on 19 December . She proceeded to San Francisco on 12 January 1946 . Her Coast Guard crew was removed on 31 January 1946 , and she was returned to Navy control . Peacetime duties . She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 1 December 1946 for the east coast ; and after undergoing peacetime alterations at Philadelphia ( including the removal of her armament ) , stood out of that port on 2 April 1947 . Sailing through the Panama Canal again and reaching San Francisco on 25 April , the transport began a series of shuttle runs between West Coast ports and the Far East , completing six voyages to Guam , two to China and Japan , and two to Hawaii before she was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service ( now the Military Sealift Command ) in October 1949 . Korean War . As an MSTS ship , " General George M . Randall " made scheduled runs between the West coast of the United States and the Orient until fighting erupted in Korea in the summer of 1950 . She participated in the amphibious assault at Inchon which routed the North Korean Army and forced Communist evacuation of South Korea . After hordes of People ' s Liberation Army troops poured into Korea and trapped American forces , she served in the evacuation of Hungnam , which saved the embattled G . I . ' s enabling them to return to the fight . She moored at New York , New York , on 26 May 1951 , and made four voyages from New York to Bremerhaven and Southampton before returning to the Pacific . On 11 March 1951 , " General George M . Randall " departed Yokohama , Japan , with the bodies of 52 men , the first Korean War dead to be returned to the United States , including Major General Bryant E . Moore , who had commanded the IX Corps . Armed Services honor guards were in attendance at the departure , as was an Army Band , and was heavily covered by the press . The ship arrived at San Francisco , also carrying 1500 officers and men of the 1st Marine Division being rotated home for 30 day leave . She then returned to Yokohama on 24 October . Return to peacetime duties . For the next three years this far - ranging ship transported men and equipment across the Pacific between West Coast ports and Japan , Okinawa , and Taiwan . In 1955 she shifted operations to the East Coast , arriving at New York on 8 April 1955 for shuttle runs from New York to Bremerhaven , ensuring the continuous flow of troops , dependents , and supplies to American forces in Europe . In first three months of 1957 she cruised the Caribbean , calling at Puerto Rico , Cuba , and Jamaica before resuming her North Atlantic transport runs out of New York on 15 April . In 1958 , the " General George M . Randall " was the ship that carried then - Private to his first assignment in Germany ; in the voyage , Elvis performed in the ship ' s variety show as a piano player . Lebanon Crisis . These varied duties were highlighted by " General George M . Randall ' s " role in the 1958 Lebanon crisis . Embarking 1 , 255 troops of the 35th Tank Battalion at Bremerhaven , and 1 , 001 others at La Pallice , France , she put them ashore at Beirut , Lebanon , the morning of 3 August 1958 , helping to stabilize that country in this swift followup by sea of the 6th Fleet ' s action with aircraft carrier planes , surface warships , and amphibious landing of United States Marines . " General George M . Randall " then returned to New York , arriving there on 16 August . Returning to her New York - Bremerhaven schedule , " General George M . Randall " visited Spain , Turkey , Greece , and Italy in 1959 , and called at ports in Iceland and the Caribbean Islands in the next year as well . Awards . " General George M . Randall " received the following awards for her service : China Service Medal ( extended ) , American Campaign Medal , Europe - Africa - Middle East Campaign Medal , Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal , World War II Victory Medal , Navy Occupation Service Medal ( with Asia clasp ) , National Defense Service Medal , Korean Service Medal , Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal ( 1 - Lebanon ) , Philippine Liberation Medal , United Nations Service Medal , Republic of Korea War Service Medal . Decommission . On her last voyage , she cast off from Rota , Spain , and moored at New York on 13 May 1961 . " General George M . Randall " then steamed to Bayonne , New Jersey , where she was decommissioned on 2 June 1961 after 17 years of near - continuous service . She was towed to Norfolk on 12 June , and transferred to the United States Maritime Administration National Defense Reserve Fleet on 16 August , at James River , Virginia . The ship was struck from the Naval Register on 1 September 1962 , but was still retained as an asset in mothballs for 13 years . On 8 May 1975 she was sold for scrap for $ 687 , 000 , and towed from James River to Taiwan for scrapping .