The CAPE BON was a type C1A freight ship for four months before being converted to a troopship by Bethlehem's 56th Street yard at New York from 25 October to 24 December 1943.  She was Navy allocated.
     Immediately after conversion the ship left, via the Panama Canal, for Milne Bay where she arrived in February 1944.  Upon return to San Francisco in April the vessel underwent repairs.  After a voyage to Honolulu she returned to Los Angeles (in August) and from there went, via San Diego, to Guadalcanal and Russell Islands.  Returning via Honolulu to San Francisco the CAPE BON left in October (via San Pedro and Honolulu) for Eniwetok and Guam.
     Returning to San Francisco in December, the vessel left in early 1945 for Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok and Saipan [Note: This is the transporting of the 79th Battalion].   Again from San Francisco (in late March) the ship sailed for Honolulu, Eniwetok, Ulithi and Okinawa.  She returned to San Francisco in July and had proceeded as far as Eniwetok and Ulithi when V-J Day occurred.  She went on to Leyte, Manila and Subic before returning in September to San Francisco.
     While returning from her next voyage (to Nagooya and Leyte) the CAPE BON was diverted to Portland, Oregon where she arrived in late November.  From there a trip was made to Nagoya and back to Seattle in February 1946.  In March the ship departed for Shanghai, Tsingtao and Taku.   From the latter port she sailed for Yokohama, arriving there on 1 May 1946"

Troopships of World War II
Roland W. Charles
The Army Transportation Association
Washington, DC, 1947