IL SR0143

Designates March 14, 2013 as Manuel Perez Jr. Day in the State of Illinois to honor the World War II Medal of Honor recipient.

PFC Manuel Perez Jr. was a Chicago resident and paratrooper with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment who was born March 3, 1923 and served in the Pacific Theater.

On February 13, 1945, Perez single-handedly neutralized 11 of 12 Japanese concrete pillboxes at Fort McKinley in the Philippines, killing at least 75 enemy soldiers, including 18 in hand-to-hand combat.

Perez was shot by an enemy sniper on March 14, 1945 while covering the withdrawal of fellow paratroopers during the Battle of Manila and was posthumously recommended for the Medal of Honor, which was presented to his father in Mexico.

Perez was one of only three Medal of Honor recipients from Chicago killed in action in the Pacific Theater during World War II; his legacy is honored through American Legion Post 1017, the Manuel Perez Jr. Memorial Plaza in Little Village, and the Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School.