Note 19 — Chapter V · A Day: 20 October 1944

Both squadrons landed on schedule, with only slight opposition, and immediately began to execute their assignments. The 2d Squadron, within fifteen minutes after landing, knocked out two pillboxes on the beach, killing eight Japanese in one and five in the other. It then organized rapidly and pushed on to secure its first objective, the town of San Jose. In the town the squadron engaged in a house-to-house search but found few Japanese. By 1230 twenty-four Japanese had been killed, San Jose was in American hands, and the Cataisan Peninsula was sealed off. The 7th Cavalry Regiment established its command post on the west side of the town at 1245. The troops of the 2d Squadron then set out in a northwesterly direction astride the hard-surfaced, narrow San Jose-Tacloban road, but they were slowed down by swamps and flooded rice paddies on either side.19 At 1400 they crossed the Burayan River on a bridge which the 33d Infantry Regiment had attempted to destroy but had only damaged. The engineers strengthened the bridge so that the medium tanks could cross, and at 1420 the forward movement continued. By 1630 the squadron had reached its objective—a point 3,000 yards from White Beach—and immediately set up its night perimeter.