 That evening, as the easternmost battalion, the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jack G. Whitted, bivouacked in a savanna grass clearing, word came that the unit would be extracted by helicopter the next morning for commitment elsewhere.Early in the morning of 8 November the battalion's listening posts reported movement to their front.Just before first light, Whitted pulled in the outposts and told all his companies to conduct a reconnaissance by fire with mortars and small arms.