Vacation in the Mountains


How about we start this vacation with a little rain and some more mud! Only this time food was at a shortage. We began to shoot only when we saw the whites of their eyes, maybe we should say the yellow of their eyes, but meanness kept us fighting. We could of joined the circus as the thin men, Weight Watchers would have been proud of us. Our ammo was down to rounds rather than by clips. We were without medical supplies from the skies, and we cursed and bitched at all the powers to be, hating the weather, the fly jockeys who wouldn't fly, and the high ranking muckady mucks that sent us into the mountains to start with. The rains still came. The mud ruts we called trails were slippery, dangerous walkways. Clothing became soaked from the rain and rotten as they dried out and mushy mud ran over the tops of our boots, the soles flopping from rot after a few days of rough marching. The air at night was cold and damp, and water that was dumped on us during the day chilled us to the bone during the night.

The 511th dragged up through the pass toward Mahonag. The 2nd Battalion of the 187th Infantry hiked up the mud trail from Burauen and relieved Colonel Shipley. Shipley and his battalion were told to go up the north trail to Anas. This trail, if we found it, could cut off the Jap's supply route. We had a good idea where the Japs were at in the mountains. One Jap outfit was just north of Anonang, bottled up by 187th 2nd Battalion. The other Jap outfit was around the west of Mahonag, between the 511th and the sea. The 511th sealed up Mahonag on December 7. The Jap supply route was found just north of Mahonag . It was a walking path widened to the width of a jeep and laid with logs to make a footing in the mucky ground. It was decided to cut this supply trail at Anas, a deserted village. This way we would cut off all Japs in the mountains from their supplies.

The 511th, less the 2nd Battalion, was ordered to go to Anas on a trail south of the Jap supply trail. Colonel Pearson and his 1st Battalion of the 187th were sent into the mountains from Burauen to relieve the 2nd Battalion of the 511th. The 2nd Battalion of the 511th was then told to move on Anas.

This time period was when the division had its first Medal of Honor recipient for conspicuous bravery. To read about this man among men go to:



Elmer Fryar - Medal of Honor





We had heroes on Leyte and Elmer Fryar was one of them.

We also had deadly sharpshooters, men who could knock the eye out of a raccoon at a 100 yards, enjoying the squeeze and watching the target fall. Frank Eugene Heath was one of these deadly riflemen. During his first day under fire Heath cut eleven notches into the stock of his M-1. He delighted in the death of each new Jap, always aiming for the heart, and in four days of sharp-shooting counted thirty-seven Japs, of whom all joined their ancestors, putting them down at ranges greater than a hundred yards.

The 511th, without 2nd Battalion, arrived just east of of Anas at a large mountain heavily defended by Japanese dug into caves which led to the peak. This mountain became known as Rock Hill. The 2nd Battalion started up the Jap supply trail. The trail passed first through a deep canyon. Deep in this canyon was a Japanese campsite, about regimental in size. As the 2nd Battalion hit it the Japs were in the process of a general retreat, due to the push forward of entire Division's advance. In this nasty little fight hundreds of Japs were killed. All sorts of things were on the ground, Jap maps, diaries, code books and cooking utensils, along with the dead Japs. The sight of the Japs wounded, gagged and bound and left to die deserted in coves and lean-tos on the side of the canyon helped us know what type of an enemy we faced. Cruel, cold and with no feeling for their fellow soldiers.

"General Joe" decided it was time to make an all-out push to the sea on the west coast and re-deployment of the Division in preparation for the attack. D Battery of the 457th was sent to Manarawat to provide security for the airstrip. The 1st Battalion of the 187th had relieved the 2d Battalion at Anonang and was holding the Japanese force there. The 674th Field Artillery Battalion had given up their howitzers once and for all and had moved to the heights west of Burauen to capture it and clean out all Japanese left behind in the Division advance. They were supported with artillery fire by the 457th, less A and D Batteries, now at Manarawat.

The 188th was ordered to converge on the area of Manarawat, to cooperate in the final attack on the Anonang force after the 511th pushed through to the sea. The 1st Battalion moved by trucks from Bugho to Burauen, then by foot to Patog. Regimental Headquarters and the 2d Battalion moved by foot from La Paz to Burauen to Manarawat. The 187th Regimental Headquarters had moved to Anonang by way of Manarawat and had taken command of the middle sector from Mahonag to Anonang. The 127th Engineers were ordered to the west coast to widen Japs supply trail entering into the mountains, to be ready to meet with the 511th with ambulances and trucks. The 408th Quartermaster Company developed a supply dump on the west coast from which supplies could be drawn when our troops came out of the mountains. The engineers located the Jap trail where it entered the mountains from the Ormoc coast and sent the exact location of it to the Division Commander and the 511th Infantry. A quick change had to be made in the route of advance of the 511th, based on the engineer information when it was seen that the earlier report of a small recon patrol was inaccurate by two ridges.

The 511th, in their effort to reach Anas, had contacted a large number of Japs just west of Mahonag. It was a fact that these Japs would have to be destroyed before moving to the sea. They were ordered to attack and destroy the Japs dug in on Rock Hill. The 3rd Battalion attacked up the ridge, assisted by fire from A Battery of the 457th, in position back at Manarawat. The 3rd Battalion, in a bloody assault seized the hill. This was on December 8 and the battalion was ordered to hold its position on Rock Hill and the hill just to the east. On the afternoon of December 10th, the 1st Battalion joined the 3d on Rock Hill, as did Regimental Headquarters. For 10 days the 511th setup ambushes and sucked the Japs into traps, killing the Japs in large numbers.

The West Ridge we called it "Hacksaw Ridge" after Hacksaw Holcomb, the commander of the 2nd Battalion who succeeded Colonel Shipley. On December 20th, the 3rd Battalion, in an attack seized the ridge. The attack was made with two companies abreast, H on the left, I on the right. As soon as the 3rd Battalion seized the ridge the 2nd Battalion was ordered up and cut through the 3rd Battalion, continuing the attack along the ridge against extremely heavy resistance.

F Company of the 188th arrived at Mahonag and relieved the 2nd Battalion of the 187th in their security mission, and they were sent to join the 511th on Hacksaw Ridge, ready to cut through the 2nd Battalion of the 511th and attack through to the coast. The 2nd Battalion of the 511th attacked under cover of darkness, not to allow the 187th to pass through and grab the glory of the last backbreaking attack. The Japs had never been hit like this before. The 2nd Battalion caught them in their bunks and slaughtered over two hundred of them before they knew what hit them. The 511th stopped and the 2nd Battalion of the 187th was ordered to pass through them and continue to the coast to make contact with the 7th Infantry Division. On December 22nd, the battalion contacted a battalion of the 32nd Infantry Regiment in position on one of the foothills of the Ormoc Coast. At the foot of this hill they found the truck road which the engineers had been working on, and the break through to the coast was finished. The 511th was ordered to secure the route from Mahonag to the coast until all wounded had been evacuated from Mahonag Hospital, and until all Japanese that could be located in the mountains of their sector were destroyed. On Christmas Day, the 511th was relieved from action and sent back to its base camp at Bito Beach. The 2nd Battalion of the 187th took over the mission of cleaning up what was left.

It was now time to cut off the supplies of this Jap force, then it would be easier to wipe it out. The 187th, less the 2nd Battalion, was ordered to stop any movement to the south while the 511th moved to the sea. With the connection having been made with the 7th Division the time had come to eliminate the Jap position at Anonang. The Japs were dug into the mountain, body holes six to eight feet deep for single Jap riflemen. They also had light and heavy machine guns cross covering fields of fire. The whole place was camouflaged with the sneaky creativity so typical of Jap installations. They did such a good job of it that one could walk within two feet of the Japs and never know it. They wrapped themselves in bushes, climbed into trees, and blended with the leafs so damn well we never knew they were there till the sniper hit us. The back ridge, where many Japs were dug in, was known as Purple Heart Hill because of the many guys that were wounded there.

Christmas Day was held in many ways by the troops. Many fresh turkey rations were acquired by the Division Quartermaster for Christmas dinner. The men in the boon docks, where a hot mess was not available, ate canned boned turkey and received fresh turkey when they got back to the base camp at the beach. The Japs must have smelled the turkey. Part of the 675th was at Catabagan on Christmas Eve. The Japs tried to attack the perimeter thinking that everyone would be asleep. Wrong guess. When the Japs moved on the perimeter trying to get in, artillery rounds were bounced off their heads. We were just telling them that we knew that Santa Claus did not have slant eyes and they were not welcome at Catabagan. About this time General MacArthur's Christmas Eve report brought to light for the first time that the 11th Airborne had been carrying on much of the heavy fighting on Leyte. It said in part, "Operating in the central mountain regions southeast of Ormoc, the 11th Airborne has been waging aggressive warfare along a wide sector. The Division has annihilated all resistance within the area."

A joint attack was ordered on December 26. The 2nd Battalion of the 188th, in southwest, pulled out of position and headed away from the Japs, faking them out to believe that the battalion was moving out of the area, they doubled back on the Japs, moved up to the east onto the southern slope of Purple Heart Hill. The south slope of the hill up, which they attacked, was so steep that the men had to pull themselves up hand over hand on vines and bushes. The lead troops encountered fierce resistance from the dug-in Japs. Captain Holloway, who commanded A Battery, 457th, and his forward observer party moved up to within twenty-five yards of the Japs and brought down heavy artillery. All night and the next day the artillery, mortars and machine guns pounded the Japs. On the 27th the 2nd Battalion hit Purple Heart Hill and stayed there taking over the Japs positions which was now vacated.

According to a someone's count there were 238 Jap bodies and lots of miscellaneous pieces of arms and legs left over from the artillery droppings. From here on all we had to do is clean up the little Japs, as the main forces ceased to exist, at least within the division area on Leyte.

Life lost was about 128 of our good troopers to 5,760 of the bad Japs. To some of the brass we did a great job; our ratio was a 45 to 1 KIA. To me it was a steep price, but we learned many lessons from it. We learned to use more recon, cover and concealment, to ration food, water and ammo. We also learned we were as rough and tough as we thought we were.

Approximate amount of awards for the Leyte Campaign are as follows: starting with the Medal of Honor awarded to Private Elmer E. Fryar, Company E, 511th Infantry, 96 Silver Stars, 6 Soldier's Medals, 423 Bronze Stars and 90 Air Medals to the men of the 11th Airborne Division.

Returning to Bito Beach with the entire Division for rest, recuperation and reorganization pyramidal tents were put up and each man got a cot instead of a muddy hole. Food was better, we got fresh meat and vegetables. We surfed, slept on the sand and tried to get a tan, if and when sun broke through. We did a lot of sack time, drank our beer and anything we could concoct to guzzle. At night there were movies. We were issued new clothing and new equipment to replace the stuff that was lost or damaged. We had this feeling that something was coming soon. We trained, remembering what worked, like night attacks on sleeping Japs, use the same methods in the future. The artillery was setup along the beach in case any Jap ships decided on another Pearl Harbor in our area. We also hunted out any loose Japs that did not join their ancestors.

The Sixth Army had already invaded Luzon on January 9, 1945. Next stop for the 11th Airborne Division was Southern Luzon.

© Copyright C. J. Johnson & Associates 1998
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, adaptation,
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copyright laws. 07/98



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