William Stanley Manos was born in Portland, Oregon on January 21, 1923. His father Basilios Manolis was from a village named Roeino, in Arcadia District and came to the United States in 1918, where he shortened his changed his name to William Bill Manos. He married his sweetheart and had two children, Doris and William. Bill always think of Greece and he used to tell stories to his children about his days in his village. William finished his school studies and worked at the family restaurant as well as a Clark driver in Iron Fireman MFG. When WW2 broke out he applied for the USAAF and he was accepted, reporting to Santa Anna, California in February 1943. Completing his training the young 2nd Lt was posted to the 497th Fighter Squadron in order to proceed to his operational training on P-47 Thunderbolts. Having logged 300 flying hours (90 in fighters) he was transferred to the 9th Air Force and posted to the 406th FG and specifically in the 513th Fighter Squadron. William flew his first missions some days before the operation Overlord and took part in 4 missions during the D-Day and the days following the invasion. Except for the ground support missions for the invading allied armies he also...

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