In April, 1944 the 11th was moved to Camp Stoneman, 30 miles (48 km) east of San Francisco, California.

By 11 May the division had sailed on several ships from the port of San Francisco for a 28-day voyage to New Guinea.

In the meantime Admiral Nimitz's "Island Hopping" had retaken the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshals and Marianas.

New training was centered on jump school and combat in the jungle, with an emphasis on live firing exercises.

On 3 October 1944 The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved MacArthur's commitment to return and free the Philippines.

Unknown at the time, the increased Japanese buildup of ground forces on Leyte would result in major combat for the 11th.

Before Japanese paratroopers with fighter escort jumped, the Buri, San Pablo, and medium bombers strafed Buyug airstrips.

At the Bayug strip the enemy had set fire to a number of planes that the 11th relied on to keep troops in the hills supplied.

Two glider combat teams landed amphibiously at a town, Nasugbu, on the west coast of the island of Luzon, south of Manila.

The plan was that the 188th Infantry Regimental Combat Team would assault Nasughu first and secure a beachhead.

When the 2 Battalions of the 188th were organized on the shore, Colonel Soule then ordered them to push to an area, Tagaytay Ridge, to stop the enemy from setting up defensive positions against the 511th troopers who would be dropped there.

He bluffed the enemy into thinking a large force was moving up Highway 17 across Tagaytay Ridge heading for Manila.

They moved so fast under Colonel Soule that the Japanese were taken by surprise at the Palico River Bridge, and it was captured.

It was then discovered that the ridge was honeycombed with enormous supply tunnels, reinforced concrete caves, as well as strong guns and individual firing positions.

Then next day, 4 February 1945, a wounded Colonel Soule (recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross) would continue to lead the rest of the 188th, less one company to keep the ridge secure, on foot towards Manila.

The Japanese had already destroyed large parts of the city and converted houses into machine gun nests.

People's tendons in the back of their necks were severed with sabers, so that a person could no longer hold their head up.

Soon the 11th would face their own horrors and suffer heavy losses against the Japanese fortified Genko Line outside Manila.

On 10 February 1945, the 1st of the 188th was pinned down by heavy machine fire until a Major Loeper led them in an attack on enemy positions.

Since the beginning of the Philippines campaign, it was a priority of General MacArthur that both civilians and soldiers held in Japanese camps be rescued as soon as possible.

The Los Baños Camp held more than 2,000 civilians of all ages, and nationalities who were captured during the Japanese invasion.

C. Co. of the 511th would jump and eliminate a small Japanese force nearby and set up a roadblock near the town of Los Baños.

Several hours later the entire population had been moved and transported amphibiously across a large body of water to a safe area While the attack on the camp was occurring, the 188th had attacked Japanese positioned near the camp at the San Juan River.

By midmorning they had cleared the area of the enemy and marched towards Los Baños to provide more fighting power for the rescue.

When Colonel Soule saw the Amtracs filled with the internees on Laguna de Bay moving to a safe location, Mamated, he gave new orders.

He ordered a bridgehead near the San Juan River, and blocked the road from Santo Tomas, where the Tiger Marines were positioned.

They attacked in an area known as Ternate and the Pico de Loro Hills on the southern shore of Manila Bay.

The artillery and mortars couldn't hit their targets because of the terrain, and razor sharp thickets hid the caves.

The entire division committed 105 days of combat from the landing at Nasugbu to the end of the Southern Luzon campaign with a battle at Malepungo.

It was estimated that the U.S. would lose approximately one million men in an invasion, because of fanatical resistance by the population as well as the homeland troops.