WWII Veteran Manny Airey Passes Away At 92

Emanuel “Manny” Airey, U.S. Navy World War II veteran and U.S. Marine Corps Korean War veteran, passed away on March 31 after a lifetime of service to his community and country. Friends, family and fellow servicemen and women celebrated his life with a Mass of Christian burial at St. Jane Frances Church on April 5 before interment with military honors in Glen Haven Memorial Park.

Airey was an Iwo Jima survivor and was also at the Frozen Chosen Reservoir in sub-zero temperatures in Korea. Cold temperatures didn’t seem to bother him in his work as an underwater demolition diver. He later served as mechanic supervisor at Continental Can Company.

Airey was honored as a lifetime member of the Fleet Reserve Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 160, Anne Arundel County Detachment 1049 Marine Corps League, Devil Dogs (the highest honor of the Marine Corps League), Military Honor of the Cooties (the highest degree of VFW) and he was an honorary member of the Army 29th Division.

Nila Caulder-Rogers met Manny and his wife, Irene, who passed away in 2013, more than 20 years ago.

“When the auxiliary folded for the Marines, I became an associate in Manny’s detachment,” Caulder-Rogers said. “For about the last 15 years, Manny, Mike Hadley, Jim Brady and myself have run the hospitality rooms for the Marines and the Cooties. Manny’s biggest thing about the Marines was the work they do for the children.”

Airey and his wife didn’t have kids of their own, but they devoted their lives to helping underprivileged children in Pasadena and Baltimore.

“Manny was a great guy with a really big heart,” said Ben Wells, who met Airey in 2008 and later helped look after him a few times per week. Wells now helps run the Marines Helping Heroes Golf Tournament, an event Manny started 14 years ago.

In his later years, Airey’s Marine friends, including Caulder-Rogers and friends from his favorite restaurant, Cookie’s Kitchen, looked after him.

“He enjoyed the companionship of his fellow veterans and he loved helping people in his clubs and in the community,” Caulder-Rogers said. “He will be remembered for all his charity work, his kindness, and his sense of humor.”

Caulder-Rogers said there is a shadowbox at VFW 160 that includes many of the plaques Airey received in recognition of his charity work, including the Marines’ own Toys for Tots drive.

For more information on the 14th annual Marines Helping Heroes Golf Tournament to be held at the Walden Country Club in Crofton on May 17, visit www.marineshelpingheroes.org/golf-tournament.