PFC Manuel Pérez, Medal of Honor - One Paratrooper's Assault on Fort McKinley in 1945

Join 11th Airborne Division historian Jeremy C. Holm as we discover the story of Private First Class Manuel Pérez, a Paratrooper from the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, whose incredible actions on February 13, 1945 would earn this Angel the Medal of Honor.

As one newspaper put it, "he fought with the strength of one hundred supermen."

Manuel's story has never been fully told like this before and it is an honor and our privilege to do so. It is the story of a first-generation Mexican American who displayed a devotion to duty that inspired the nation.

After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Manuel was inducted into the United States Army in January of 1943 and he immediately volunteered for parachute duty. He was assigned to the new 511th Parachute Infantry forming at Camp Toccoa, Georgia which would later join America's new 11th Airborne Division at Camp Mackall later that year.

It was during the 11th Airborne's campaign to liberate Luzon that Manuel would single-handedly eliminate twelve enemy defensive positions along with 75 of the Japanese defenders.

“He was always out front,” said A Company’s Private Donald Noel of Coal Center, Pennsylvania. “He seemed unaware of anything but the job of killing (the Japanese).”

One month later, this incredible paratrooper would give his life outside Santo Tomas.

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Down From Heaven Comes Eleven! Airborne All the Way!