The U.S. Navy is naming a future San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock after a Bucks County marine killed by sniper fire in Iraq in 2007.
On Jan. 10, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro officially announced plans to honor Silver Star recipient 1st Lt. Travis Manion during a ceremony with the Travis Manion Foundation at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
A future Naval ship will be named after First Lt. Travis Manion, the Doylestown resident and Marine killed in the line of duty on April 29, 2007.
“The San Antonio-class amphibious ship represents the combined power of the Navy and Marine Corps team and relies on the seamless integration of sailors and Marines working together,” said Del Toro. “Here, at his alma mater, I am proud to announce that the next San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, LPD 33, will be named USS Travis Manion, serving as a symbol of courage, bravery, and selfless service for all who follow in her wake.”
Amphibious transport dock ships are warships that embark, transport and land Marines, their equipment, and supplies support amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions and serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious operations.
“Travis would be so proud to know that the USS Travis Manion will one day carry Marines — men and women like those he walked beside in the halls of Naval Academy and those he served beside on the battlefield,” said Ryan Manion, CEO of the Doylestown nonprofit and Travis Manion’s sister.
Who was Travis Manion?
Born into a Marine family, Manion graduated from the Naval Academy in 2004 and was deployed to his first tour in Iraq after entry-level officer training.
In 2006, he was assigned to a military transition team advising the Iraqi Army and returned to Iraq in December that year, according to a press release from the Navy.
Manion was killed defending his unit during an ambush while on patrol in the Al Anbar province in Iraq on April 29, 2007.
Manion exposed himself to enemy fire multiple times to recover a wounded medic and another marine before he was fatally shot.
“Through the words he spoke before his final deployment, ‘If Not Me, Then Who…’, Travis left a legacy of service that lives on through the hundreds of thousands of veterans and families of the fallen across the country who share this ethos,” retired Col. Thomas Manion, Travis’ father, said at last week’s ceremony.
Manion’s family started the veteran-focused nonprofit the September following his death.
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The foundation has impacted through programs or other aid some 78,000 veterans and over 550,000 young people, according to its website.
Over the past 17 years, the nonprofit has opened satellite offices in Washington, D.C., and California, Texas, Illinois and Washington state.
Chris Ullery can be reached at cullery@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Navy ship named for Marine Travis Manion, of Doylestown, killed in Iraq