Note 31 — Chapter XIX · The Entrances to Ormoc Valley
Reading edition
In the meantime the 1st Battalion had moved out at 0800 and encountered scattered resistance. To the east and south of the 32d Infantry was an impassable canyon, several hundred feet deep. In order to reach the 511th Parachute Infantry, it would be necessary for the regiment to go either north for an undetermined distance or down the ridge toward the coast and then up again. A third possibility involved crossing the Talisayan River in the foothills several miles to the west. With these facts in mind Colonel Finn asked his executive officer, “Are we to actually contact the 511th personally[?] What is the purpose of the contact and are we to lead them out by hand[?]”31