Posthumous Silver Star and Bronze Star with V

The Bronze Star was given for Manion’s acts in March 2007, when he was in Fallujah, Al Anbar province, and single-handedly captured an insurgent who had set off a bomb.

A week later, he was shot at on two occasions while directing his unit and helping save the wounded.

Manion received the Silver Star for saving wounded Marines in Al Anbar while again being fired at by snipers on April 29, 2007. But that time, he was fatally shot.

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Manion, 26, died April 29, 2007, while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. After his medic and lance corporal were wounded by a sniper, Manion moved forward, placing himself in between the wounded and enemy snipers.

“He made himself the sole focal point of the enemy attack,” Poudrier said.

“He selflessly exposed himself to enemy fire so others could be rescued,” Allen said.

Manion’s Silver Star was only the 91st awarded by the Marines since Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2002. It is awarded for extraordinary heroism.

Capt. Anthony Guess-Johnson presented the Manions items from Combat Outpost Manion, one of only two in Iraq named for an American.

“Of all of the team members that came before me, one echoes more than any other,” he said, adding that was the case among the Iraqis Manion was training as well as marines.

“As a kid growing up, you always wonder what a hero is like,” Poudrier said, slowing his words to avoid sobbing. “When other men fail, they step up.”

He then recounted Manion’s favorite saying: “If not me, then who.”

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