[2] Initially the regiment was tasked with a "reconnaissance en force" operation, but their orders changed to take and hold the passes through the mountains in the center of the island, and engage and reduce the Japanese forces in the area, ultimately in support of the battle of Ormoc which was simultaneously ongoing.

The 511th successfully performed this mission during harsh monsoonal weather in the steep, heavily forested terrain, emerging shortly after Christmas of 1944 onto the Ormoc plain after suffering severe casualties.

After a brief rest and resupply the regiment was sent to the island of Mindoro as the 11th Airborne was preparing for its part in the Battle of Luzon.

From 27 to 29 April it engaged and eliminated the remaining Japanese forces entrenched in underground complexes in the Mount Malepunyo (Malarayat) range east of Lipa.

The regiment remained in the Lipa-Batangas area, training for the planned invasion of Japan, until the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After securing the Atusgi Air Base near Yokohama on 30 August 1945, for General Douglas MacArthur's arrival, the regiment took up defensive positions before being tasked with guarding the departure docks for the Surrender Ceremony on board the USS Missouri.

[5] On 16 September 1945 the 511th moved to Morioka, Japan to begin the occupation of Iwate and Aomori Prefectures in Northern Honshu.

On 28 July 2005, Captain Mark Chandler cased the colors during the inactivation ceremony at Rose Field in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.