Juan Guadalupe Garza, Jr.
Private First Class, United States Marine Corps
January 11, 1983 – April 8, 2003
Age – 20
Temperence, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, CA
Killed by a sniper shot to the chest.
While serving as a Rifleman for 2nd squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Private First Class Juan G. Garza was killed in action on April 8, 2003 while engaged in offensive combat operations against Iraqi enemy forces in the city of Hasan al Hamzah, Iraq while on a mission to secure the near side of a bridge in order to allow follow-on forces from the 5th Marine Regiment to enter into Baghdad.
While fighting from an entrenched position in a small enemy stronghold which had just been secured by 2nd squad, PFC Garza moved from a covered position, exposing himself to enemy machine gun and sniper fire, in order to gain a vantage point from which to engage the enemy. While acquiring targets, PFC Garza was struck from behind and fatally wounded by a bullet from an unknown location.
When Juan Garza was 15, living in San Benito, Texas, his friends were gang members and he barely attended school. His aunt and uncle offered him a fresh start living with them in Temperance, Mich.
“He turned his life around,” said his uncle, Michael Bucher. “He worked hard and made us proud. Now he’s made the whole country proud. Although school was hard for him,, Garza studied long hours and graduated from Summerfield High School in 2002. He also excelled in track and football, and worked at a Wendy’s restaurant. That’s where met his wife, Casey Garza, 19, who is in the Army stationed in Washington, D.C. The couple were married at the Temperance courthouse on Dec. 26, when they both were home on leave.
Joe Palka, the principal at Summerfield High, said “Garza was an outgoing jokester who was well-liked by his classmates. He had a very engaging personality. He was accepted into all circles. He could be friends with every group. He said on school spirit dress-up days, he’d be the guy with the big cowboy boots and cowboy hat on.”
PFC Garza was remembered by one of his Marine brothers with the following words. Ten years to this day, while serving as a Rifleman for 2nd squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Private First Class Juan G. Garza was killed in action on April 8, 2003 while engaged in offensive combat operations against Iraqi enemy forces in the city of Hasan al Hamzah, Iraq while on a mission to secure the near side of a bridge in order to allow follow-on forces from the 5th Marine Regiment to enter into Baghdad.
While fighting from an entrenched position in a small enemy stronghold which had just been secured by 2nd squad, PFC Garza moved from a covered position, exposing himself to enemy machine gun and sniper fire, in order to gain a vantage point from which to engage the enemy. While acquiring targets, PFC Garza was struck from behind and fatally wounded by a bullet from an unknown location.
You are gone my Brother, but not forgotten.
Semper Fidelis
Your Squad Leader,
Sergeant Lott, Zachary D.
USMC/0311