Manuel Mendoza

"Boy, you always got a bad feeling about something."

- Sergeant Johnson to Mendoza

Private Manuel Mendoza was a Non-Rate Infantryman in the UNSC Marine Corps. He participated in the Battle of Installation 04 in September 2552.

Crash-landing on Halo
Manuel Mendoza was one of the Marines stationed on the, when it was attacked by the Covenant Navy, marking the beginning of the Battle on Installation 04.

After boarding a lifeboat, he survived the crash landing on the Installation. He was the infantryman that Sergeant Major Johnson loved to holler at during the first Halo incidents. During the events of the crash landing, he fought alongside Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, until he was evacuated by Echo 419.

Encounter with the Flood
Later on, he was part of Fireteam Charlie, which was led by Captain Jacob Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, to find a supposed Covenant weapons cache that the Sangheili Major 'Qualomee, had uncovered and disclosed to them in passing.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

- Private Mendoza, before the Flood outbreak.

Instead, the so-called "cache" turned out to be a Flood Containment Facility. The entire fireteam was immediately ambushed and, save for the veteran Sergeant Major, was assimilated into the Flood and turned into Combat Forms. Though Mendoza held off the Infection Forms for a while, unlike his comrades, he was also later assimilated into a Combat Form.

A few hours after infection, Mendoza took three entire 8-gauge shotgun shells from John-117's M90A Close Assault Weapon System, with the results both "spectacular and disgusting". As the corpse-like horror came apart, the Spartan saw that one of the small, spherical creatures had taken up residence inside the Marine's chest cavity and seemed to have extended its tentacles into other parts of what used to have been Mendoza's body.

Quotes

 * "Why do we always have to listen to this old stuff, Sarge?" - Listening to flip music in the Pelican, level 343 Guilty spark.
 * "Hey... if the Covenant wanna wipe out this particular part of my history, that's fine by me." - Referring to flip music again.
 * "Everywhere... I don't.. There! Mira!" - When the Flood Infection Forms started to appear.
 * "Yo, this is loco!" - When fighting the Flood Infection Forms.

Trivia

 * There is also a glitch in Halo: Combat Evolved that allows you to get back on board the D77-TC Pelican Dropship in the level 343 Guilty Spark . Once the Pelican lands, the player may run around the perimeter of the level, where Private Mendoza stands alone. Also by doing this, the player can skip most of the outdoor portion of the level. To do this, throw a grenade as the Pelican is landing and you will stay inside the ship. It will then crash some way away and you can explore the upper area of the level. Here you can encounter an NPC skin of Mendoza, which will respond when attacked and is capable of being killed.