Compactifying the E 8 non-critical string in 6D down to 5D, the 6D strings give rise to particles and strings in 5D. Using the dual M-theory description compactified on an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau we compare some of the 5D BPS states to what one expects from non-critical strings with an E 8 chiral current algebra. The E 8 multiplets of particle states comprise of 2-branes wrapping on irreducible curves together with bound states of several 2-branes.