186^th Infantry Regiment

The 186th Infantry Regiment was an Oregon National Guard regiment federalized at Portland on September 16, 1940 and assigned to the 41st Infantry Division. It departed San Francisco on April 22, 1942, reached Australia in May, and moved by air to New Guinea in late January 1943. There it helped relieve the exhausted 32nd Infantry Division in the Buna-Gona area and performed security, patrol, and mopping-up duties before returning to Australia in July.

The regiment returned to New Guinea for the 1944 advance. At Hollandia, its battalions followed the 162nd Infantry ashore through the Humboldt Bay landings and then drove inland from Pim toward Lake Sentani. Moving by trail, LVT, and lake shore routes, the 186th seized Cyclops and Sentani Dromes on April 26 and made contact with 24th Division troops advancing from Tanahmerah Bay. It then patrolled the Lake Sentani and Cyclops Mountains area while the new base was secured. On Biak the regiment landed on May 27, pushed onto the island plateau, and seized Mokmer Airfield on June 7. The capture of the field did not end the fighting, and the regiment remained engaged as the division cleared the island's caves, ridges, and pockets through the summer.

In 1945 the 186th became the core of Palawan Force. Landing near Puerto Princesa on February 28 after naval bombardment, the regiment seized the town and its airfields on the first day. Japanese resistance developed in hills north-northwest of the harbor, where elements of the regiment reduced strongpoints during March 3-8 and secured Hill 1445. The regiment then conducted wide patrols across Palawan while the 2nd Battalion and Company G took part in shore-to-shore operations around Busuanga, Balabac, and nearby islands. After rejoining the 41st Division at Zamboanga, the 186th extended the front east of the 163rd Infantry and helped force the final Japanese withdrawal into the peninsula interior.