Note 21 — Chapter V · A Day: 20 October 1944

The 5th and 12th Cavalry Regiments landed on White Beach without incident at exactly 1000. Immediately beyond the narrow landing beach was a deep swamp through which the regiments must move to reach Highway 1. The morass was often waist deep, in places even up to the armpits, and men of the advancing line of troops cursed heartily as they floundered toward the highway.21 Under such circumstances it was impossible for the men to carry all of their personal equipment, and they had to make three trips in order to complete the crossing of certain areas. At 1100 a reconnaissance platoon of the 5th Cavalry Regiment made physical contact with elements of the 34th Infantry, 24th Division, on its left. By 1500 both cavalry regiments were on Highway 1. They pushed westward immediately toward the next objective—the foothills west of the highway.22 Col. Royce E. Drake, the commanding officer of the 5th Cavalry Regiment, went forward with a patrol from F Troop. At 1900, about three quarters of a mile south of Caibaan, the patrol made contact with the enemy. In the ensuing fight ten Japanese and one American were killed and two Americans wounded. At 1915 the 12th Cavalry Regiment closed in on its A-Day objective and formed its night perimeter.23 The 5th Cavalry Regiment formed its night perimeter at 2135, a few hundred yards short of the objective.24