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HORNEDO, MANNY (1978-2005). Sergeant, 1569th Transportation Company, New York Army National Guard. Manny Hornedo was born in Brooklyn on March 17, 1978, to Evelyn Crespo (born on December 11, 1956). No records for Manny’s father could be found. His family was of Puerto Rican ancestry per a news report in the July 8, 2005 New York Daily News. Manny’s older half-sister, Carmen Cruz Rodriguez, daughter of Evelyn Crespo and George L. Cruz, was born in 1974.
The family lived in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, at 4002 3rd Avenue, when Manny was a child. In 1993, Manny was attending John Jay High School (now John Jay Educational Campus) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He was nicknamed “Chino.”
Manny married Melissa E. Nieves (born in September 1978) on April 8, 1998, in Brooklyn. According to Manny’s July 2, 2005 obituary in Newsday, they were high-school sweethearts. They were living at 437 44th Street in Brooklyn when they welcomed their two sons, Manny Hornedo Jr. in 1999, and Marcus in 2001.
According to his obituaries in the July 3, 2005 New York Daily News and the July 24, 2005 Journal News, Manny was employed as a loss prevention/security manager at a Gap clothing store in Herald Square, Manhattan, when he enlisted in the National Guard on February 26, 2002. His widow was quoted in the Journal News obituary that the tragic events of September 11, 2001 encouraged him to enlist. Manny received a National Defense Service Medal in 2002 and was discharged on June 28, 2002.
On March 1, 2004, Manny returned to active National Guard service, He was deployed as a transportation specialist in Operation Iraqi Freedom III in January 2005 with the 42nd Army Infantry Division. The employees of the Gap store where he had been working sent care packages to Manny every month while he was stationed in Iraq, according to his obituaries. In early June 2005, he returned home for a two-week leave to celebrate his son Marcus’s fourth birthday and an early Father’s Day with his family.
On June 28, 2005, per his obituaries, Manny was serving as a turret gunner on an escort Humvee west of Tikrit, Iraq, when a suicide bomb exploded next to the convoy, killing him. He was interred in Green-Wood with full military honors. The employees of the Gap store where he worked set up savings accounts for his two sons. Manny received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart Medals, as well as the Iraq Campaign Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and the New York Operation Iraqi Freedom Service Ribbon. Manny’s mother died on January 10, 2023. Section 96, lot 44805, grave 37.
