The ship was laid down as Koda and perhaps assigned the name Badger State at one point, but renamed American Legion before launch and one of only a few of the design not taking a state nickname. American Legion decommissioned on 28 March and was sold for scrap 5 February Brown, an Emergency Fleet Corporation inspector and member of the American Legion , who inspected the hull, proposed its name change to the Pennsylvania American Legion conference with passage of a resolution which was immediately publicized.
Frelinghuysen christening the ship. The ship was one of three intended to become United States Army transports already under construction at the yard: hull Wenatchee , hull Sea Girt and hull Koda.
Before delivery American Legion and Sea Girt , soon to become Southern Cross , were modified for tropical service carrying about first class passengers.
American Legion , flying the Munson Steamship Line's flag which had been allocated the ship for operation in fast passenger service to South American ports, left the Camden yards at five-thirty on the afternoon of 16 July for the one-day voyage to Hoboken, New Jersey with cabins filled with dignitaries. Her enforced idleness did not last long.
Over the next few months, the ship made five round-trip voyages to the Canal Zone , with stops at Charleston, South Carolina , and San Juan, Puerto Rico , carrying civilian and military passengers. The worsening situation in Europe, though, soon resulted in the ship's receiving a special mission. President Franklin D. Borden Harriman , the former American Minister to Norway , return in the same vessel. The transport would "likewise bring back to this country such Americans in Scandinavian countries as can be accommodated and as may not be able to return safely in any other way.
