Joe Eugene Mann (July 8, 1922 – September 19, 1944) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration – the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

– for his actions in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

Mann joined the Army from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

in August 1942, and by September 18, 1944 was serving as a private first class in Company H, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On that day, in Best, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, he single-handedly destroyed an enemy emplacement and continued to fire on the enemy from an exposed position until being wounded. Despite his wounds, he insisted on serving guard duty during the night. The next morning, during an enemy attack, Mann smothered the blast of a hand grenade with his body, sacrificing himself to protect those around him. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor a year later, on August 30, 1945. Mann, aged 22 at his death, was buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace,

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Medal of Honor citation

Private First Class Mann's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

He distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty. On 18 September 1944, in the vicinity of Best, Holland ic his platoon, attempting to seize the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal, was surrounded and isolated by an enemy force greatly superior in personnel and firepower. Acting as lead scout, Pfc. Mann boldly crept to within rocket-launcher range of an enemy artillery position and, in the face of heavy enemy fire, destroyed an
88mm gun The 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41 is a German 88mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun, developed in the 1930s. It was widely used by Germany throughout World War II and is one of the most recognized German weapons of the conflict. Develo ...
and an ammunition dump. Completely disregarding the great danger involved, he remained in his exposed position, and, with his
M-1 rifle The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...
, killed the enemy one by one until he was wounded 4 times. Taken to a covered position, he insisted on returning to a forward position to stand guard during the night. On the following morning the enemy launched a concerted attack and advanced to within a few yards of the position, throwing hand grenades as they approached. One of these landed within a few feet of Pfc. Joe E. Mann. Unable to raise his arms, which were bandaged to his body, he yelled "grenade" and threw his body over the grenade, and as it exploded, died. His outstanding gallantry above and beyond the call of duty and his magnificent conduct were an everlasting inspiration to his comrades for whom he gave his life.

Honored in ship naming

The

ship was in service from 31 October 1947 until she was transferred to the Navy on 7 Aug 1950.

Memorial

In remembrance of Pfc. Joe E. Mann, a memorial monument was placed at the site of his death. Near the same site, in the forest between Best and

Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

(described sometimes as the 'Sonse forest'''Zonsche'' is an archaic spelling of the adjective denoting the town of Son), an open-air theater (which remains in use today) was named after him. This forest also contains a second memorial dedicated in Joe's name, the Pelican Monument, that depicts the mythical story of a pelican mother sacrificing herself to save her babies with her own flesh and blood, and an adjacent road also carries his name. The PFC Joe E. Mann Army Reserve Center was named for him. The Reserve Center building began serving soldiers in 1957 and was operational for 40 years and 6 months. The Reserve Unit was relocated to Fairchild Airforce Base and the building was closed in 2010.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Joe E. 1922 births 1944 deaths United States Army personnel killed in World War II United States Army Medal of Honor recipients People from Lincoln County, Washington United States Army soldiers World War II recipients of the Medal of Honor Deaths by hand grenade