Leyte
After its participation in the Knollwood Maneuver ended, the division remained in reserve until January 1944, when it was moved by train from Camp Mackall to Camp Polk in Louisiana. There, the division remained for four weeks, conducting a number of maneuvers and tests to ensure that it was prepared to be transferred overseas and enter combat. In April 1944, the division was moved to Camp Stoneman, California, and then arrived in Milne Bay between 25 May and 11 June. Between June and September the division became acclimatized to its new environment and continued its airborne training. It conducted parachute drops in the New Guinea jungle and around the airfield in Dobodura. Then, on 11 November, the division boarded a convoy of naval transports and was escorted to Leyte in the Philippines, arriving on 18 November. Four days after its arrival, the division was attached to XXIV Corps and committed to combat in Leyte, but only as an infantry division and did not operate in an airborne capacity. It was ordered to relieve the 7th Infantry Division, which was stationed in the area Burauen-La Paz-Bugho, engage and destroy all Japanese forces in its operational area, and protect XXIV Corps rear-area supply dumps and airfields.
Maj. Gen. Swing ordered the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment to guard the rear installations of XXIV Corps, and the 188th GIR to secure the division's rear and conduct aggressive patrols to eliminate any enemy troops in the area. The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment was assigned the task of attacking and destroying all Japanese formations in the operational area, which it began on 28 November when it relieved the 7th Infantry Division. The regiment then began moving overland, two battalions advancing abreast and the regiment's third battalion in reserve following behind. The regiment advanced slowly, its progress impeded by heavy Japanese resistance, a lack of mapped trails, and heavy rainfall, with more than twenty-three inches (60 cm) of rain falling in Leyte in November alone. As the regiment advanced, resupply became progressively more difficult, with the division resorting to using large numbers of Piper Cub aircraft to drop food and ammunition to the regiment as it advanced. To try to rectify these problems, the division created several solutions, such as dropping platoons of the 187th GIR from Piper Cubs in front of the 511th PIR to reconnoiter for the regiment, and using C-47 transport aircraft to drop artillery pieces to the regiment's location when other forms of transport, such as mule-trains, failed.
On 6 December, the Japanese attempted to disrupt the operations of the 11th Airborne Division and other American units on Leyte by conducting two small-scale airborne operations. The first raid attempted to deploy a small number of Japanese airborne troops to occupy several key American-held airfields at Tacloban and Dulag, but failed when the three aircraft used in the operation were either shot-down, crash-landed or were destroyed on the ground along with their passengers. The second, larger, raid was conducted by between twenty-nine and thirty-nine transport aircraft supported by fighters; despite heavy losses, the Japanese managed to drop a number of airborne troops in the area around Burauen airfield, where the headquarters of 11th Airborne Division were located. Five L-5 Sentinel reconnaissance aircraft and one C-47 transport were destroyed by Japanese troops, but the raiders were eliminated by an ad hoc combat group composed of artillerymen, engineers and support troops led by Maj. Gen. Swing.
Meanwhile, the 511th PIR continued its advance on 7 December, being reinforced by 2nd Battalion, 187th GIR. Its progress was slow but steady, and on 17 December it broke through Japanese lines and arrived at the western shoreline of Leyte, linking up with elements of the 32nd Infantry Division. It was during this period of fighting that Private Elmer E. Fryar
earned a posthumous Medal of Honor when he helped to repel a Japanese counterattack, personally killing twenty-seven Japanese soldiers, before being mortally wounded by a sniper. The regiment was then ordered to set up temporary defensive positions against possible Japanese attacks before being relieved on 25 December by 1st Batt.,187th GIR and 2nd Batt., 188th GIR. These two battalions then proceeded to combat further Japanese resistance, incurring considerable casualties against a heavily dug-in enemy. The entire regiment was reassembled at its original base-camp in Leyte on 15 January 1945.
