Note 60 — Chapter VII · Southern Leyte Valley: Part One

The 3d Battalion spent 29 October in patrolling the area around Digahongan and guarding the road junction. It broke up one enemy attack by about thirty men. At 0800 the 1st Battalion moved out from Kansamada toward Kiling against scattered enemy fire but at 1130 the troops were stopped by heavy automatic fire which came from pillboxes astride the road. Shortly afterward the enemy artillery opened up and the 1st Battalion was forced to withdraw about a thousand yards to a point where it established a perimeter.60 During the fight Lt. Col. Jesse W. Mecham, the commanding officer of the battalion, was mortally wounded. His last order to the battalion was that the troops should not risk their lives to get his body out.61 That night, however, Maj. Joseph R. Lewis, who had assumed command of the battalion, led a small party forward and recovered the body of Colonel Mecham.