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.

To learn more about Manuel Pérez, you can purchase one of Jeremy's acclaimed books here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C83KT18D

To support our channel, please visit https://11thairborne.com/store

You can read Manuel's bio here: https://511pir.com/enlisted-biographi...

You can email us at jeremy@jeremycholm.com.

For more information, visit www.511pir.com or www.11thairborne.com today, or you can email jeremy at Jeremy@jeremycholm.com.

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To purchase copies of Jeremy's books on the 11th Airborne Division, please visit:

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Down From Heaven Comes Eleven! Airborne All the Way!

Transcript

Hello friends, thank you for joining me today.

My name is Jeremy Holm; I am an 11th Airborne historian and the author of the books: 

WHEN ANGELS FALL: THE 511TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY IN WORLD WAR II 

And DOWN FROM HEAVEN: THE 11TH AIRBORNE IN WORLD WAR II – VOLUMES 1 and 2.

You can find all three books on Amazon, and we are currently working on the audio versions, so stay tuned.

I also run two online museums for the Angels, 511pir.com and 11thairborne.com where you can find photos, videos, trooper bios, research archives and more.

If you’d like to support this channel, please visit our online store full of airborne books, challenge coins, custom hats, posters, coasters, and a whole lot more. 

Just visit 11thairborne.com/store.

You can also donate online to help our efforts to preserve Angel history and I want to thank everyone who has contributed so far. 

Your recent donations have gone towards new recording equipment to help us improve the quality of this channel and our podcasts.

You also helped us with our latest research trip to Oklahoma, my old home state...

That’s right, while I was born right outside Valley Forge, I grew up in the great state of Oklahoma! 

Which brings me to the focus of today’s video, Oklahoma’s very own Medal of Honor recipient, Private First Class Manuel Perez who was once called, “one of the greatest little fighters that ever lived.”

This is his story.

The great author J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote that “Courage is found in unlikely places.” 

This is the story of one of those times where the highest level of courage was displayed by someone who at first glance might seem like an unlikely source of such bravery. 

But looks can be deceiving, and on one fateful day in 1945, as one newspaper put it, Manuel Perez “fought for our country with the strength and fury of a hundred supermen.”

Manuel “Toots” Perez Junior was born on March 3, 1923, in the Riverside area of Oklahoma City.

One newspaper described Riverside as “a dingey part of the city” which wasn’t very nice.

Manuel’s parents, to Manuel Senior and Isidra Pérez, had little money and Manuel Junior, a first-generation Mexican American, was born in a little frame house on 645 Southeast Six Street. 

This puts his old homestead in what is now Oklahoma City’s boathouse district, just north of the Fitness Court across Riversport drive. 

The house belonged to Manuel’s aunt, Salome Perez Cardenas, and her husband Adolph. 

Both of Manuel’s parents immigrated from Mexico and their rich heritage of faith and hard work would deeply impact Manuel’s life and his character. 

He was baptized by Father Edward Soler on April 15 in the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Saint Therese Little Flower Church, which you can still visit today. 

But little Manuel’s faith would soon be challenged. 

Two years after the Perez family moved to Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Manuel’s loving mother Isidra died.

He was only four years old at the time. 

Young Manuel would be raised by his father and grandmother Tiburcia Moncada at 1125 South Racine Avenue. 

In addition, Manuel’s uncle Jesse and aunt Emily Perez stepped in to help serve as kind of surrogate parents for the future Paratrooper while his father and grandmother returned to Oklahoma City for about three years. 

It is no surprise that Manuel remained close to his aunt and uncle until his death.

While their old Chicago house on Racine Avenue is just a parking lot now, the Perez family always attended church at their St. Francis of Assisi Parish which IS still standing. 

Manuel was very active in the church’s youth groups. 

One church newsletter said he “played on various sports teams and was an all-around social lad, noted for his dancing ability and cheerful disposition.” 

The family’s church has been a bastion of faith for local immigrants from Mexico for nearly 100 years and is symbolic of their fight against city planners who want to tear the building down. 

Of note, the St. Francis de Assisi church is where the first Spanish-language mass was held in Chicago. 

Perhaps this helps the church’s defense in the gentrification battle: a memorial service for Private First-Class Manuel Perez was held in the church on Sunday, February 13, 1949, after a procession down Green Street.

Seven members of American Legion Post 1017 acted as pallbearers while others from Catholic Action group considered it an honor to stand vigil over their friend’s remains all night long.

So, the fact that this historic church was where a Medal of Honor recipient grew up and where a memorial service was held should give Chicago additional pause before tearing it down. 

Manuel Perez attended Chicago’s Goodrich Elementary School, but when the Great Depression hit, his father lost his job.

He went back to Oklahoma to look for work and took Manuel and his grandmother with him.

They moved back in with Manuel’s aunt, Salome Cardenas, who had twelve children of her own and Manuel attended Walnut Grove School with several of them.

The house was crowded, but full of love. 

After Manuel was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945, his aunt Salome looked at a portrait of Perez during a memorial event in 1946. 

With tears in her eyes, she told the gathered crowd what a good boy Manuel was. 

“He fought for our nation, for a better world.”

Eventually young Manuel, his father and his grandmother returned to Chicago and this time they lived at 3511 West Roosevelt Road which…  is now just a big empty lot.

Manuel became known around his neighborhood as a gifted athlete who would go on to co-found the area’s Cyclistas Bicycle Club. 

He was also a member of the community’s Benito Juarez Social Club.

Manuel was remembered as a good-natured, active kid whose peers gave him the nickname “Bullet” because he was always on the move.

He would later attend Crane Technical School in Chicago’s Near West Side and after graduation, Manuel went to work at Best Foods, Inc.

His uncle Jesse worked there as well, and I’m guessing so did his father since Manuel Senior lists his employment as a maintenance man at a food company on the 1940 census.

But for the Perez family, and the nation itself, everything was about to change. 

We have to remember that by 1940, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany had opened hostilities in Europe and the Pacific.

While the United States remained neutral, it was pretty obvious that war was coming, and President Roosevelt instituted the first peacetime draft on September 16, 1940.

Manuel registered with his local draft board at Chicago’s Hull House, a community meeting spot for immigrants where they attended social, educational, and artistic programs. 

I believe this is where Manuel met with the Benito Juarez Social Club.

The Hull-House still stands, although it was moved from its original location, and is now the Jane Addams Hull House Museum which hopefully at least has a photo up to honor Manuel.

After Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, war was declared and Manuel Perez was inducted into the United States Army on January 9, 1943, only a few days before Elmer Fryar, the 11th Airborne’s other Medal of Honor recipient enlisted. 

We do have a video on Elmer’s Fryar’s story which I’ll link to down below.

I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Now with his induction into the Army, the 5’ 9” Manuel Perez, weighing in at whopping 142 pounds, became one of over 30,000 Americans of Mexican decent to serve in the military from Chicago during World War II. 

In the words of Chicago’s Rafael Perez, “There is hardly a family that does not have a father, brother, or sweetheart in active service.”

Rafael was the Director of Chicago’s Mexican Civic Center in 1945 and he added, “We are proud of our Mexican heritage and loyal to the United States.”

That phrase describes Manuel Perez perfectly. 

He was proud of his Mexican heritage and fiercely loyal to the United States.  

Manuel quickly volunteered for Parachute duty and was sent down to historic Camp Toccoa, Georgia to join the newly forming 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

There he was assigned to Captain Ben Petrie's Company A. 

And if you’ve never visited Toccoa, please put it on your bucket list.

The town is amazing and there are two fantastic museums there full of incredible volunteers and airborne history. 

Of note, Camp Toccoa at Currahee just completed their reproduction of the 511th PIR barracks and we are thrilled to see this memorial to Manuel Perez and his fellow Paratroopers.

Now Manuel’s assignment to Company A in 1943 means he was one of the very first volunteers to arrive and be assigned to the regiment. 

And as I’ve mentioned before, the acceptance standards for the 511th were so high that out of 13,000 volunteers, only 3,000 were accepted and that number was further cut to about 2,100.

Let me walk you through the process.

Manuel Perez would have arrived at the Toccoa train station which is now the excellent Currahee Military Museum. 

Manuel may have been in the group that was greeted at the station by A Company’s Sergeant Joe Chitwood who yelled at the fresh arrivals: 

“Before this war I was a daredevil stunt man. I traveled all over the country performing in fairs and shows, crashing cars into flaming walls, and jumping them over impossible hurdles. 

“I thought I was a pretty good man when I joined the Paratroops. I was, but not anywhere near as good a man as I am now after one year in the Paratroops.”

Chitwood’s words impressed the gathered soldiers.

At this point Manuel would have been trucked to Camp Tocca itself where he was personally interviewed by either 1st Battalion’s Lieutenant Colonel Ernest LaFlamme or by Lieutenant Colonel Orin D. “Hardrock” Haugen, the regimental commander.

During these interviews, volunteers like Manuel had to stand in their new G.I. underwear and answer questions designed to test their intelligence, courage and potential.

Colonel Haugen told his commanders to only let in the best, so these interviews served to evaluate a trooper’s physical and mental states and their willingness to do hard things.

Additionally, the 511th only let in troopers who passed the Army’s General Classification Test with a score of 110 or higher.

The same requirement for Officer Candidate School.

Now wonder 3rd Battalion’s Lieutenant Colonel “Big Ed” Lahti declared, “The 511th Regiment probably contained the finest group of prospective soldiers of any regiment ever assembled in one unit.”

Manuel Perez passed all those tests and he and his buddies began a primer for airborne training that included runs up and down Mount Currahee.

Those runs were often led by Colonel Haugen himself who ran cross country at West Point. 

The Colonel would run to the head of their column… and then keep going.

Manuel’s A Company comrade Sergeant David McGuire said “that little wiry sob would be on his way back down the mountain before most of (us) were halfway up...”

Sergeant McGuire said at that point, A Company was no longer in formation. It was a mob, every man for himself, trying to keep up...

PT was a way of life for these troopers and Manuel Perez and his comrades would become some of the most physically fit soldiers in the United States Army. 

Their stay at Camp Toccoa was short, however, and in February they headed to Camp Mackall, North Carolina to join the new 11th Airborne Division. 

Under major General Joseph May Swing, the 11th Airborne would become one of the most elite fighting forces in America’s military.

I don’t want to spend too much time on their stateside training, but I do want to say that Private Perez was almost bounced from the 511th while at Camp Mackall.

His marksmanship scores were so rough that the regiment considered kicking him out. 

However, Manuel turned things around and remained with the Angels, a decision that would change division history. 

Speaking of history, one of the most pivotal moments in America’s early airborne history occurred in December of 1943 when Manuel Perez and the 11th Airborne participated in the famous Knollwood Maneuvers. 

This is where the Angels proved that an airborne division could successfully be deployed and resupplied by air which saved the airborne as we know it. 

Sicily’s Operation Husky had created mixed feelings about the future of airborne divisions and some in America’s leadership wanted to break them up. 

If it wasn’t for the 11th Airborne’s successful actions at Knollwood, the future of the airborne would have looked far different than what we now know it to be.

After the Knollwood Maneuvers, Private Perez was given leave for the holidays, so he boarded a train bound for Oklahoma City. 

When Manuel entered the Army, his father and grandmother returned to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, but they came back to visit, and the trio stayed in the same house Manuel was born in. 

This could be when this famous photo was taken of Manuel, but most likely it was taken at Camp Mackall. 

What you don’t see in this photo, and what most people don’t know, is that Manuel had a scar on his right cheek just below his eye. 

Almost a dimple when he smiled.

And during Christmas of 1943, Manuel had plenty of reasons to smile.

The holidays provided a joyful reunion for the Perez family and their neighbors. 

I’m sure they attended mass together and while their circumstances were humble, the celebrations would be enriching and memorable.

They would have to be. 

This was the last time Manuel’s loved ones ever saw him alive.

Following the holidays, Manuel returned to Camp Mackall to help pack for the 11th Airborne’s move down to Camp Polk, Louisiana.

Here the division underwent more training and exercises and endured final War Department tests to see if they were ready for combat.

General Swing’s troopers also got into plenty of fights with Camp Polk’s armored units and generally caused mischief in the area.

Before his passing in 2019, I was able to speak with retired Colonel Stephen Cavanaugh who joined Manuel’s A Company as a young 2nd Lieutenant in December of 1942. 

I believe they were in the same platoon, but when I asked about the trouble the Paratroopers caused at Camp Polk, Colonel Cavanaugh just laughed.

He declared, “Angels we were not.”

But Manuel Perez was different. 

His buddies all said he was generally quiet around camp and rarely joined in their shenanigans. 

However, when it came time for combat, they all said this little man could always be counted on to do the big jobs.

On April 15, 1944, Manuel and his fellow Paratroopers were shockingly told to remove their jump boots, uniforms and wings. 

And if you know anything about Paratroopers, you’ll know how insulting this was.

While this was for security reasons, Manuel’s A Company comrade Private First Class Steven Hegedus said, “A Paratrooper’s boots are his pride and joy, right up there with Mom and patriotism. Stomp on his fingers, steal his girlfriend, but don’t mess with his boots.”

One week later on April 22, the entire 11th Airborne boarded trains destined for Camp Stoneman, California. 

Here they made final phone calls home, completed G.I. insurance forms and wills, and spent about two weeks “being fattened for the kill” as one trooper joked. 

One day Manuel’s A Company joined the regiment for a “little hike” around Camp Stoneman’s Road March Area. 

Colonel Haugen had heard that a Marine unit set a record of just under four hours. 

Hardrock knew his boys could beat that, so they set off and even lapped another unit on the course.

B Company’s PFC Bert Marshall noted that Colonel Haugen got a good laugh when one of those soldiers, who was rubbing his sore feet, stopped to watch the 511th pass. 

The soldier shouted, “Man, who is that crazy guy leading you all? He must really be crazy!”

Well, this gave Colonel Haugen a good laugh, of course. 

His boys completed the march, beating the Marine unit’s record by nearly an hour. 

The 511th sailed for New Guinea in May of 1944 and upon arrival they discovered that the orders to remove their patches, boots and jump wings for security reasons were pointless. 

The Japanese knew they were coming. 

When the 511th’s transport reached New Guinea, the Paratroopers were surprised by Tokyo Rose who identified them on the radio, saying, “Welcome to the 11th Airborne Division…. We know where you are; you will never make it to New Guinea.”

D Company’s PFC Elmer Hudson said, “That sent chills up my spine!”

After five months of theater training on New Guinea, Manuel Perez and the 11th Airborne were finally committed to combat operations on Leyte in November of ‘44. 

Today I want to focus on the Luzon campaign of 1945, but I will say that Leyte was just horrendous due to the monsoon conditions, steep mountain heights, tropical diseases, lack of food and supplies, and just the vicious nature of jungle fighting against the Japanese.

One Angel recalled, “It was a nightmare.”

The Japanese attacked their columns like “ghosts in the darkness” then faded into the jungle.

During such an attack on December 2, Manuel Perez and A Company were shocked when their beloved Company Commander Captain Thomas Brady of Whitestone, New York was hit in the head. 

Brady was highly respected and when asked who would carry their respected captain back to a field hospital, every man in the Company volunteered. 

As the regiment continued westward to eliminate Japan’s 16th and 26th Infantry Divisions, it was a patrol from A Company under First Lieutenant Albert Giddings which found the first evidence of the enemy’s main supply trail on the island.

Finding and eliminating this trail was one of the main reasons the 11th Airborne had been sent over the island and while I don’t know if Manuel Perez was involved in this patrol, given his role as a scout he likely was. 

Manuel actually gained quite a reputation as a fighter on Leyte. 

During one engagement, his patrol was withdrawing from a little draw they were in, and Manuel held the rear, backing out of the narrows while firing on the enemy with deadly effect.

His buddies were impressed.

And that draw that Perez was keeping the enemy busy in was only a short distance from the ridge where Private Elmer Fryar earned the Medal of Honor. 

In fact, these two actions occurred just days apart.

But after more than thirty days of combat, the battered 11th Airborne descended from Leyte’s heights. 

Manuel’s A Company joined a long column of Angels carrying their wounded down towards Ormoc Bay on Christmas 1944. 

I Company’s Staff Sergeant James “Bull” Hendry described the ordeal, saying:

“Carrying those litters was pure hell, not only for us, but even worse for the wounded, many of whom had been wounded for up to two weeks. 

“Most of us still walking were 30- to 40-pounds lighter than we had been a month earlier, many had minor wounds and we all had the GIs and jungle rot.”

G Company’s David Webb said:

“Battles across Leyte produced a truly pitiful looking bunch of Paratroopers... Exhausted, sick, and wounded, we had done ourselves proud, but were too tired to realize it - or too tired to give a damn might be more fitting.”

And Manuel Perez and his fellow Angels had done themselves proud. 

They took everything the jungle and the enemy could throw at them and they came through victorious. 

As Regimental Sergeant Major Fredrick Thomas declared, “(The) 511th PIR withstood combat experiences in the mountains that would have ruined an ordinary army unit.”

The Angels were told they had eliminated 5,760 of the enemy during five weeks of fighting. 

However, the 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion’s Captain John Conable pointed out that “The count of (enemy) dead is probably low because of the nature of the terrain.”

Once final reports came in, the 11th Airborne was told that the Japanese lost 45 soldiers for every fallen Angel. 

But their victories had come at a cost. 

Manuel’s regiment was down to 60% strength and Regimental Surgeon “Doc” Wallace Chambers estimated their remaining men needed six weeks to recover... 

And that’s all they would get. 

The Battle for Luzon was commencing, and the Angels were needed. 

The 11th Airborne was attached to and basically made up U.S. Eighth Army under General Robert Eichelberger for Operation Mike Six. 

Eichelberger had been tasked by General MacArthur with pushing up toward Manilla from the south while Sixth Army under General Walter Krueger came down from the north.

To achieve their goal, Manuel Perez and the 511th PIR would jump on Tagaytay Ridge south of Manila where they would link up with the rest of the division who pushed inland from Nagsubu.

As part of 1st Battalion, Manuel and A Company dropped on February 3, 1945, and during their jump, A Company’s PFC Leroy “Pop” Franklin looked up to check his canopy and saw PVT William Exline fighting a near-streamer. 

Pop quickly grabbed Bill in a bearhug and the two rode Pop’s canopy down to the ground. 

I don’t know if Manuel Perez saw this act of service, but General MacArthur may have.

He was watching the Angels’ jump while flying overhead in his personal transport.

On the ground, the Angels began their campaign to liberate Manila and they had to do it fast since Japanese forces were beginning their diabolic rampage through the city. 

As Manuel Perez and A Company fought into Manila, they passed long columns of Filipinos fleeing the city.

A company’s Sergeant Steve Hegedus watched two little children walking down the street. 

The kids passed a dead Filipino man on the ground, then the boy ran back to look at his face. 

Steve couldn’t believe it when the boy cried out and begged the dead man to get up. 

His sister then rushed back and collapsed on the body. 

It was their father.

These fleeing refugees told A Company stories of the unbelievable cruelty of Japanese soldiers. 

Everything from killing babies with bayonets, raping women and girls of all ages, burning homes with families still inside, horrific massacres and more. 

A Company soon encountered an emaciated mother pulling a little wagon. 

With tears in her eyes, she begged the Paratroopers for help.

Tech Sergeant Edmund Harris remembered looking down into the wagon to see a little girl whose jaw, nose, and throat had been shot away.

When they asked what had happened, the mother quietly replied, “Japanese machine gun.” 

The Paratroopers directed her to the rear, but medics reported the little girl died the next day. 

Manuel’s A Company, already angered by the stories of Japanese brutality, learned that the poor mother had already lost two other children and a little sister to the war’s destruction.

Despite the hells they were fighting through, Manuel Perez and his fellow Angels were greeted in towns they passed through with parades, cheering crowds and bright smiles. 

A Company’s Steve Hegedus said of one such reception, “The whole town turned out to see their first Americans in four years. Hail the Liberators! The euphoria of new freedom, and the promise of a better life, was in the air. We were the symbol of better days ahead.”

Those better days were still far ahead and the Angels’ campaign to retake Manila was bloody. 

The 11th Airborne had to face and destroy Japan’s Gengko Line, a monstrosity of defensive fortifications along the city’s southern edges. 

The enemy had constructed cement pillboxes and placed their large guns, including naval guns taken off sunken ships from Manila Bay, and anti-aircraft guns along this line. 

The Angels faced so many of these big guns that during the fighting, the 188th Glider Infantry’s Captain Leo Crawford called over the radio:

“Tell Admiral Halsey he can stop looking for the Japanese fleet. It is dug in on Nichols Field.”

These enemy positions were defended by smaller pillboxes manned with machine guns. 

Throw in the land mines, the interconnecting tunnels, the mortar pits, and the hidden snipers and it’s easy to see why the Angels consider Manila one of their toughest battles.

And it was a costly one. 

After ten days of fighting, Manuel Perez’s regiment had been decimated. 

PFC Kenneth Haan noted:

“Up around Parañaque, Nichols Field and Fort McKinley we had over 300 killed and 800 wounded in ten days. At one time the regimental strength was 900 men, about 40%.”

Some companies were approaching 70% casualties. 

When Nichols Field was declared secure on February 12, H Company’s original complement of 121 was down to just 49. 

Captain John Coulter of 3rd Battalion’s HQ said, “There were less than 150 riflemen in the three rifle companies...”

And this was a division-wide problem.

Captain Leo Crawford of the 188th Glider Infantry said, “(Able) company was down so far that when (First Lieutenant Woodrow) Fitch took command he thought it was just a platoon he was seeing.”

Fitch was shocked to find out that this was all that was left of his new company.

Everyone else was gone.

But General Joe Swing’s remaining troopers kept pushing forward.

Their next objective was Fort William McKinley and on February 13, 1945, the division’s 187th, 188th and 511th regiments moved to attack. 

3rd Platoon’s twenty-two-year-old lead scout Private First Class Manuel Pérez was ahead of the A-511’s main body alongside PFC Ancel J. Upton when they came out of the jungle and into McKinley’s open fields. 

That Manuel was out in front surprised no one. 

“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 Japs.”

"(Manuel’s) detection of the enemy was very sharp," added A Company's Second Lieutenant Theodore Baughn. "And his reaction with weapons was very quick and effective."

But after forty-three days of combat, Pérez was tired. 

He told fellow scout Ancel Upton that morning:

“I’m tired of all this killing and the war, I want to go home to Chicago. I feel I’m going to either be wounded today or be killed; one way or the other I’m going home”.

He was right on both counts, just not that day.

Private First Class Manuel Perez was about to make history. 

As A Company pressed towards Fort McKinley, Pérez noticed a heavily fortified pillbox that threatened the company’s advance. 

And then he saw eleven others beyond it.

Some were large cement pillboxes and others were small, log covered ones, each with between one to four Japanese soldiers inside.

The fields around McKinley provided little cover, and A Company was crawling through the grass at this point to stay hidden.

The enemy had been firing on the Angels with twenty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns with devastating effect and when Manuel noticed the fifteen-foot-tall pillboxes with their accompanying machine guns, he worried about what would happen to his buddies when they were finally spotted.

As one of his A Company comrades noted, “Hell, those Japs are good with their automatics."

Thinking of his fellow Angels, Manuel Perez rushed into action.

Lieutenant Ted Baughn, Manuel's platoon leader, said, "I heard someone yell, 'There goes Pérez!' I turned and saw him coming on a dead run. I yelled for him to get down--which had no effect on his concentration."

First, Perez shot and killed five Japanese soldiers out in the open as he ran forward. 

He then rushed the first pillbox, dropped in a grenade, then moved to the next and the next, dodging enemy fire and dropping grenades into firing slits or overhead vents as he moved. 

Manuel did this twelve times, running through the open with almost no cover as he moved from one destroyed pillbox to the next.

And the whole time, A Company’s 3rd Platoon was doing their best to provide covering fire.

The platoon would move up and secure the area around each destroyed pillbox as Manuel moved to the next one. 

But the Japanese could see what Perez was doing and of course began targeting him.  

Sergeant Max Polick, who watched Manuel in action, said, “The (enemy) slugs were cutting the breeze all around, but he didn’t seem to care.”

This guy was one tough Chi-cano.

Perez only stopped to rush back to the Platoon’s position to get more grenades, then went right back to work, all while under enemy fire. 

Well, he did stop to shout to Lieutenant Baughn telling him to watch out when a Japanese grenade landed near his head. 

Ted moved just before it went off and said Perez, “Probably saved my life.”

Manuel then reached a large Japanese bunker where he could see two 50 caliber machine guns sticking out of the firing slot. 

He thought about how much damage those guns could do to A Company and 3rd Platoon watched Manuel flip the spoons on two grenades then toss them into the slot.

Sergeant Polick said, “There was a hell of a blast,” then Manuel climbed on top of the pillbox to drop in two white phospherous grenades.

Those went off as nearby Japanese soldiers continued to fire on Perez who was now lying on his stomach. 

As smoke poured out of the pillbox vents, Manuel calmly turned his head towards his buddies with a big grin and gave them the “I’m Ok” sign.

Manuel then attacked a smaller pillbox attached to the big bunker, his twelfth of the day.

First, he fired his Garand into the front slot, killing four more Japanese.

He then tossed in a grenade, which really kicked over the hornet’s nest. 

The combined enemy crews started withdrawing through a tunnel just to the rear of the emplacement, but Manuel dropped down and shot four of the Japanese before he heard that distinctive “ping” that a Garand makes when it ejects a clip.

Manuel reloaded and killed four more, but he was so busy firing that he failed to see the Japanese soldier running his way.

Sergeant Max Polick shouted, “Watch out!” and Manuel looked over just in time to block the flying rifle and bayonet that the Japanese had thrown like a javelin.

This knocked his own rifle to the ground, so Manuel pulled the enemy rifle out of the dirt and killed the screaming Japanese soldier with his own weapon. 

Manuel then turned and killed two more Japanese soldiers with his newfound bayonet and clubbed two others to death with the butt of the rifle.

Perez then ran into the pillbox to bayonet the last Japanese soldier inside, using the same Japanese rifle which I’m guessing was out of ammo because at this point he is just using the bayonet and rifle butt as his main weapons.

Manuel Perez, this tough little Mexican American from Oklahoma and Chicago killed eighteen Japanese soldiers while taking this last pillbox.

But that’s not even close to the total. 

As A Company’s Sergeant Max Polick pointed out, “Among (Manuel’s) grenades, rifles and bayonet the count of dead Japs was more like 75.”

It should come as no surprise that 1st Battalion’s Major Henry Burgess immediately gave orders for a Silver Star commendation to be written up when he heard of Manuel’s actions. 

However, the commendation came back rejected two days later because, and I quote:

“The quota of Silver Stars had been filled.” 

You can imagine how angry Burgess, a tough Wyoming cowboy, was.

He said:

“Indignant, I went over the site of the fight that (Perez) had waged and personally wrote the citation and prepared maps to support the action, obtained several corroborating accounts of the soldiers who saw what he had done, and recommended that he be granted the Congressional Medal of Honor.” 

General Swing forwarded the supporting documents and on February 28, 1945, just ten days after his one-man assault on the enemy's fortifications, Manuel wrote to his uncle, now PRIVATE Jesse Pérez:

“… they are putting me in for a medal and it’s not the purple heart, you will be surprised how big it’s going to be …”

Five days after Manuel wrote this letter, the 11th Airborne performed their famous raid on the Los Banos Internment Camp where they rescued over 2,100 men, women, and children from behind enemy lines on February 23, 1945. 

This is one of the most historic rescues of World War II and if you have not yet watched our video on the raid, I’ll put a link down below for you.

Most who have heard of this raid know that the 511th’s Company B parachuted onto the camp. 

What is often forgotten is that the rest of 1st Battalion came across Laguna de Bay to participate as well. 

That includes Manuel Perez and A Company which, under the command of Lieutenant Harold Fraker, moved to block any enemy movement from the east side of the camp.

Perez and A Company then joined the rest of the rescuers on the lake’s shoreline and returned to Mamatid on the Amtracs. 

So, Manuel Perez was one of the Angels who helped liberate Los Banos. 

Three weeks later, On March 14, 1945, A Company was ordered to take Santo Tomas and performed a recon in force to determine enemy strength. 

This was Santo Tomas the city, not Santo Tomas the prison camp which was already liberated.

Codenamed Gypsy Red on the Angels’ radio net, at 0950 Able Company’s two-platoon patrol moved towards the city from the railroad crossing to the east.

I’m sure you’re shocked to hear that Manuel Perez was, of course, on point and was the first Angel to enter the city.

As one newspaper put it, Manuel “fought his way out of many scrapes in the Philippines and always went back for more by volunteering for patrol duty.”

Now the southern half of Santo Tomas was bombed the day before, but the northern half was relatively untouched. 

In addition, the mornings’ artillery barrages landed down south. 

So, when Manuel entered Santo Tomas, the enemy was ready and waiting.

Two Japanese soldiers immediately opened fire on this little Paratrooper who promptly returned fire, killing them both.

Well, those soldiers had friends who opened up, and Manuel turned to PFC Earl Rediske and said, “Come with me, we’ll go around the left flank and come in behind them.” 

With the rest of their patrol moving in, Perez and Earl went forward a few hundred yards, jumped a fence, then advanced twenty more yards when they encountered heavy fire.

PFC Rediske said later, “You have to give the Japanese credit for anticipating your maneuver.”

A Company’s two-platoons would soon find out that the Japanese strength consisted of a reinforced company, most of whom were dug in underneath the houses.

One A Company trooper said, “(We ran) into heavy machine gun fire from Japanese positions in the ditches. Then they started throwing mortars at us."

As things heated up, Manuel Pérez took cover behind a coconut tree while Earl Rediske tried to get low behind some banana trees thirty feet away. 

Rediske looked up and noticed six bullet holes in the leaf right above his head.

The enemy fire was so thick that his canteen and webbing were shot away, and Earl later noticed a dent in his helmet from another bullet. 

That Angel’s guardian angels were busy that day. 

At Noon, A Company’s patrol decided to follow their orders to withdraw if heavy opposition was encountered.

Manuel asked for covering fire and Earl Rediske obliged, but Pérez quickly shouted that he couldn’t move. 

The enemy fire was just too thick, so Manuel told Earl that he would cover him. 

Pérez raised up on one knee to protect his buddy when suddenly there was a sickening thud.

Private First Class Manuel Perez had been shot in the chest. 

Manuel fell behind the coconut tree he was using for cover and shouted, “Rediske, help me!” 

Earl tried to rush to his aid, but the Japanese poured all their fire in his direction. 

Earl shouted for a medic and tried to keep the enemy busy as medic Bill McNelly ran over.

A few moments later, McNelly shouted above the sounds of battle, “Pérez is dead.” 

When the news reached the stunned A Company patrol, several troopers wanted to go back for their fallen friend. 

But given the heavy rate of enemy fire, Lieutenant Ted Baughn wisely said, “We know he's dead and I'm not going to get any of the rest of you killed just to get him."

Private First-Class Manuel Perez Junior was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions at Santo Tomas, but word of Manuel’s death spread through the regiment like wildfire. 

The Angels all said, “it was hard to believe that one bullet could kill such a tough little man.”

His loss was made all the more tragic when later that same fateful day, March 14, 1945, the 11th Airborne received official notice that for his one-man assault on Fort McKinley, Manuel Pérez Junior had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The death of a Medal of Honor recipient after the initial qualifying action caused a stir in the regiment and everyone wanted to know what happened. 

Some fingers pointed to the ineffectiveness of the morning’s artillery barrage, but Regimental S-3 got defensive and, said:

“Strike on Santo Tomas this AM only fair results because you did not inform us of details you desired. If you had stated parts of town you desired to be hit it would have been done.” 

And while the Angels mourned their loss, over 8,000 miles away, one young girl’s heart broke at the news.

You see, Manuel Perez, this heroic Angel, was engaged at the time of his death, something that I have never seen reported before.

His fiancé was 18-year-old Mary Torres, a beautiful girl who lived just one mile from Manuel’s Chicago home, practically the girl next door.

The two met at a wedding in 1942 and were inseparable until Manuel’s induction into the Army in 1943. 

Mary said, “He was to bring home his parachute for my wedding dress.”

She described Manuel as: “A cheerful, happy-go-lucky fellow who would only fight when he or his loved ones were insulted.” 

While they only had three years together, Mary said:

“People may not think that I have much to remember him by, just a shell necklace, a tiny diamond, and a few hundred letters. But I have proud memories that very few girls will ever have in a lifetime.”

Mary, like the nation, would never stop honoring Manuel’s memory.

And if anyone knows what happened to all those letters that Manuel wrote to Mary, please message me.

What a treasure trove about the life, and love, of this American hero. 

On July 19, 1945, the 11th Airborne participated in a review for General Walter Kruger where numerous medals were presented, including the announcement of the two Medals of Honor for Manuel Pérez and Elmer Fryar both of whom had been killed in action.

While the 11th Airborne was stationed in Japan for Occupation Duty, the 511th PIR dedicated their chapel at Camp Haugen to PFC Manuel “Toots” Pérez.

Given Manuel’s deep faith, I can’t think of a better way for his fellow Angels to honor him.

He was the 7th Mexican American to receive the Medal of Honor.

On February 22, 1946, Manuel’s medal was presented to his father on the International Bridge between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico where Manuel Senior had moved to open a successful meat market. 

The award ceremony was held during a celebratory bullfight in Nuevo Laredo that honored both Manuel Perez and George Washington on the president’s birthday.

Manuel’s Medal was presented to his father by General Jonathon Wainwright. 

Yes, THAT General Wainwright, the one tasked with defending Corregidor in 1942 after General Douglas MacArthur left for Australia.

General Wainwright endured three years as a prisoner of war and when he was finally released in 1945, he flew to Japan to meet with General MacArthur at Tokyo’s New Grand Hotel.

There, General Wainwright passed Manuel Perez’s fellow 11th Airborne Angels who were serving as General MacArthur’s Honor Guard. 

I’m sure General Wainwright would be pleased to know that Fort Wainwright in Anchorage, Alaska is now home to the mighty 11th Airborne Division Angels.

After giving Manuel Senior his son’s Medal of Honor in 1946, General Wainright stood before a crowd of thousands and told them of the heroic service and sacrifice of the brave little Chicano, Private First-Class Manuel Perez.

If you would like to see Manuel’s medal in person and find yourself in Oklahoma City, stop by the fantastic Oklahoma History Museum where you’ll find this touching exhibit.

I want to give a big shoutout to Veronica Redding of the Oklahoma Historical Society who was so generous with her time and took these photos of Manuel’s display. 

Now back in 1946, returning Mexican American veterans formed Chicago’s American Legion Manuel Pérez, Junior Post 1017 to honor their fallen friend.

Three years later, in 1949 Manuel Pérez’s body was returned to Chicago for formal memorial services, which were conducted by his friends from Post 1017. 

From Chicago, Manuel’s remains were escorted to Oklahoma City for final burial with full military honors at Fairlawn Cemetery. 

I recently had the opportunity to visit Manuel’s grave to pay my respects, a solemn experience, and if you would ever like to do the same, Manuel is resting in the Catholic Section of Fairlawn. 

In 1961, Denver dedicated the Manuel Perez, Junior Army Reserve Center at 3021 West Reno. 

And in 1979 Oklahoma City's Riverside community and the American GI Forum raised funds to provide a small park and monument honoring Manuel at Southeast 14 and Harvey. 

Then on April 25, 1981, the Manuel Pérez, Jr. Plaza in Chicago’s Little Village was dedicated by Mayor Jane Bryne, and a new elementary school named after Pérez was dedicated in Chicago’s Pilsen Community on May 30, 1990.

In 2006, Manuel was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame and in 2013, sixty-eight years after his death on Luzon, the Illinois State Senate designed March 14 as Manuel Perez Junior Day.  

On Veterans Day, November 11, 2020, the new Oklahoma Medal of Honor Memorial at Manuel Perez Park was unveiled in a ceremony by Mayor David Holt and other civic leaders.

I was able to visit this park during my recent visit to Oklahoma and I think Manuel is happy knowing that families can enjoy this beautiful park together.

And perhaps one of the greatest honors of all, our reactivated 11th Airborne Division elected to rename their headquarters building at JBER in honor of Private First Class Manuel Perez.

And if you’ve stayed with me for this long, please allow me to reward you and to honor Manuel Perez by sharing this never-before-seen photo of this American hero.

It was likely taken during a trip home and truly shows the cheerful smile he was famous for.

So, there you have it, the story of the 11th Airborne’s Manuel Perez, “one of the scrappiest fighters who has ever lived”, and a true American hero.

Thank you for joining me today. If you’d like to learn more about Manuel Perez and the 11th Airborne Division, please pick up a copy of our books: 

WHEN ANGELS FALL: THE 511TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY IN WORLD WAR II 

And

DOWN FROM HEAVEN: THE 11TH AIRBORNE IN WORLD WAR II – VOLUMES 1 & 2

Be sure to visit our online store at 11thairborne.com/store where you can pick up one of our popular 11th Airborne challenge coins which serve to honor all the Angels, especially Private First-Class Manuel Perez Junior.

Down From Heaven, Comes Eleven! 

Airborne All the Way.