diff --git a/smithy-openapi/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverter.java b/smithy-openapi/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverter.java
index 1ecd209160d..2fae2eb2de8 100644
--- a/smithy-openapi/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverter.java
+++ b/smithy-openapi/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverter.java
@@ -432,6 +432,12 @@ private <T extends Trait> void addPaths(
                 }
                 // Add security requirements to the operation.
                 addOperationSecurity(context, result.getOperation(), shape, plugin);
+
+                // Add the documentation trait to the operation if present.
+                shape.getTrait(DocumentationTrait.class)
+                        .map(DocumentationTrait::getValue)
+                        .ifPresent(description -> result.getOperation().description(description));
+
                 // Pass the operation through the plugin system and then build it.
                 OperationObject builtOperation = plugin.updateOperation(
                         context, shape, result.getOperation().build(), method, path);
diff --git a/smithy-openapi/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverterTest.java b/smithy-openapi/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverterTest.java
index ad08da8824e..05fee7e3309 100644
--- a/smithy-openapi/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverterTest.java
+++ b/smithy-openapi/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/OpenApiConverterTest.java
@@ -423,4 +423,20 @@ public void convertsUnions() {
 
         Node.assertEquals(result, expectedNode);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void convertsDocumentation() {
+        Model model = Model.assembler()
+                .addImport(getClass().getResource("documentation-test.smithy"))
+                .discoverModels()
+                .assemble()
+                .unwrap();
+        OpenApiConfig config = new OpenApiConfig();
+        config.setService(ShapeId.from("smithy.example#MyDocs"));
+        Node result = OpenApiConverter.create().config(config).convertToNode(model);
+        Node expectedNode = Node.parse(IoUtils.toUtf8String(
+                getClass().getResourceAsStream("documentation-test.openapi.json")));
+
+        Node.assertEquals(result, expectedNode);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.openapi.json b/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.openapi.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c897b5541a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.openapi.json
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+{
+    "openapi": "3.0.2",
+    "info": {
+        "title": "MyDocs",
+        "version": "2018-01-01",
+        "description": "Service"
+    },
+    "paths": {
+        "/": {
+            "get": {
+                "description": "Operation",
+                "operationId": "MyDocsOperation",
+                "responses": {
+                    "200": {
+                        "description": "MyDocsOperation 200 response",
+                        "content": {
+                            "application/json": {
+                                "schema": {
+                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/MyDocsOperationResponseContent"
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    },
+    "components": {
+        "schemas": {
+            "MyDocsOperationResponseContent": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "description": "Output",
+                "properties": {
+                    "foo": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "description": "foo member."
+                    },
+                    "nested": {
+                        "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Nested"
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+            "Nested": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "description": "Nested",
+                "properties": {
+                    "baz": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.smithy b/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.smithy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3236a6995b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/smithy-openapi/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/openapi/fromsmithy/documentation-test.smithy
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+namespace smithy.example
+
+/// Service
+@aws.protocols#restJson1
+service MyDocs {
+  version: "2018-01-01",
+  operations: [MyDocsOperation]
+}
+
+/// Operation
+@http(method: "GET", uri: "/")
+@readonly
+operation MyDocsOperation {
+    output: Output
+}
+
+/// Output
+structure Output {
+    /// foo member.
+    foo: String,
+
+    /// Note: these member docs are ignored and instead only the documentation
+    /// on the targeted structure is present in the output. This is because our
+    /// users have told us that it's more important to reuse structure definitions
+    /// than it is to have 100% fidelity with the original Smithy model. In a
+    /// previous implementation, we created a unique named shape for every member,
+    /// but this results in no shape reuse across the generated OpenAPI model.
+    nested: Nested,
+}
+
+/// Nested
+structure Nested {
+    baz: String,
+}