Longest Day Hero's D-Day Exploits Exposed as Lie

The Telegraph ^ | Peter Allen

[nickcarraway]

For more than six decades, Howard Manoian revelled in his heroic reputation as one of the men who landed in Nazi-occupied France on D-Day.

Instead of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, as Mr Manoian claimed, his unit was the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company, a far less prestigious outfit which always operated well behind the front line.

Manoian's war wounds were also non existent, although he did suffer a broken middle finger while on standby in England, and then heavy bruising to another hand. He always told admirers he had been hit by German machine gun bullets in the left hand and both legs during a fierce fire fight on June 17 1944, and then again by a Nazi Messerschmitt which strafed the field hospital where he was recovering.

The incredible deceit finally came to light thanks to military records including Army pay roll documents obtained by the Boston Herald Tribune in American military archives.

Historian Brian Siddal said: "He was never part of the paratroopers. The evidence is overwhelming." Since the war, Mr Manoian had even set up home in Chef-du-Pont, a village near Sainte-Mère-Église, where a plaque was erected in his honour, alongside the 82nd Airborne museum in the town.

He was a regular at a veteran's bar, The Stop, where original black and white photographs of him in military uniform still adorn the walls.

Mr Manoian frequently told of the part he also played in Operation Market Garden - the failed and extremely bloody campaign fought by Allied paratroopers in September 1944 and depicted in the film A Bridge Too Far.

It appeared that all of his distortions of the truth were inspired by Hollywood, with movie fiction spicing all of his claims.

[kingu]

Reliving a 2009 article for some reason?

[americanophile]

kook

[pgobrien]

What a sack of sh#t poseur.
Imagine fooling the french, n’est pas?

[FredZarguna]

The article conveniently omitted his successful career as a Senator from Connecticut.

[ExSoldier]

Well, on one hand he's a legend in his own mind. An old guy struggling to feel relevant as he nears the hereafter. Is what he did bad? Sure. But I'll bet you he punishes himself deep in his soul all the time and I'll bet he regrets it but feels trapped by the multilayers of the lie. Why drag him through the mud all this time later? Especially in such public fashion? No he wasn't a paratrooper. Yet he served -- which is a heckuva lot more than I can say for the current occupant of the White House and most of his evil minions...

[ROTB]

>Why drag him through the mud all this time later?

The leftist reporters won’t drag out anyone dangerous (government, unions, muslims), so old pensioner lying veterans are near the top of the hit list.

It’s not a dangerous target. That’s why.

[Texas Eagle]

Who does this guy think he is? John Effin Kerry?

At least he didn't frag his own ass with grains of rice like Kerry did and then put himself in for a Purple Heart.

[forgotten man]

“Yet he served — “

I don’t understand why guys who served honorably make up these stories. I have tremendous respect for people who served in the military but did not see combat. They followed orders and went where they were sent.

[Americanexpat]

hey we got a senator that did the same thing and got reeleceted and with the support of local vets groups.

[ansel12]

Read the article, the guy pumped this for all it was worth, he created it, and now that it has ended he has left his base of operations and has moved back to the United States.

[Wooly]

I would guess that he was a Democrat?

[Wooly]

I would guess that he was a Democrat?

[FredZarguna]

Summed up best by a Republican President than by me:

Every Rebel guerrilla and jayhawker, every man who ran to Canada to avoid the draft, every bounty-hunter, every deserter, every cowardly sneak that ran from danger and disgraced his flag, every man who loves slavery and hates liberty,... and every villain, of whatever name or crime, who loves power more than justice, slavery more than freedom, is a Democrat.
--James A. Garfield, 1866

All Real Truth is timeless.

[Hot Tabasco]

But I'll bet you he punishes himself deep in his soul all the time and I'll bet he regrets it but feels trapped by the multilayers of the lie.

I'll take your bet and see you that he never suffered one second of regret until he was busted.......your call........

As a side note, one has to question how many free beers and dinners he received during his tenure as a fraud in "The Stop"

[jmacusa]

The ‘’chemical decontamination’’ bit should have tipped off any serious WW2 historian. What a jerk.

[ansel12]

That is who he was actually with.

“Instead of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, as Mr Manoian claimed, his unit was the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company, a far less prestigious outfit which always operated well behind the front line.”

[SunkenCiv]

...Instead of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, as Mr Manoian claimed, his unit was the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company... Manoian's war wounds were also non existent... Since the war, Mr Manoian had even set up home in Chef-du-Pont, a village near Sainte-Mére-Église, where a plaque was erected in his honour, alongside the 82nd Airborne museum in the town. He was a regular at a veteran's bar, The Stop, where original black and white photographs of him in military uniform still adorn the walls. Mr Manoian frequently told of the part he also played in Operation Market Garden...

Wow, thanks nickcarraway.

[ExSoldier]

Yeah, I know. I was a cold warrior. Trained to fight the Russians and never heard a shot fired in anger and I feel almost ashamed when I see the warriors return from the sandbox today. I feel like I didn't do anything. I'm not fit to carry the water for these brave souls who go in harms way for me and mine. They're mostly the sons of my buddies, themselves former (EX) soldiers. Does that make any sense?

[ExSoldier]

My call? I'll stay with what I said but I'm looking at things a bit differently today. It's the day after Thanksgiving and the day before Thanksgiving was my wife's final cancer treatment. Her tests are all clear and the port has been scheduled to be removed in December. It's our first Thanksgiving without her dad who passed away 10 months ago to the day. Between us, our last living parent. Now he's gone and himself a war hero of WWII with the Navy Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and 41 awards of the air medal in the Pacific Theatre. When he passed the USMC tried to give him an FA18 fly over at graveside in central Florida but the war taskings made the mission too "short notice." I choose to stay with what I said because we have so much to be thankful for and yet so much to be sorry for (Dad's passing), too. This year we want to catch that Christmas spirit. We lost it last year when my wife was deep in battle with the disease. Make no mistake, the battle brought us closer to God and to each other. But this year, I choose to give this old man a pass in the spirit of the season. Who am I to judge him? Think what you will. Either I call or I fold, your choice. Either way, it's okay.