Barrington Marine remembered as 'firecracker'

Michael Scott Guzy was honored as a Marine and remembered as a man by those who loved him most during funeral services Monday at St. Anne Catholic Community in Barrington.

Guzy, a 27-year-old from Barrington who was a Marine corporal, died July 19 when he was struck by an SUV while walking across an interstate in San Diego. He had been stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton.

Michael's father, Brian Guzy, said his son possessed a magnetic personality that was almost unnatural.

"His real gift was he couldn't judge anybody except on their character, so his friends run the gamut," Brian Guzy said. "Michael was just a firecracker, and people wanted to be around him."

Four of Michael Guzy's fellow Marines from Camp Pendleton flew in to serve as pallbearers at St. Anne and his burial at St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery in Palatine.

Brian Guzy said his son joined the Marines in part as a way to get an advanced degree in mathematics and computer science after completing his service. He said Michael was highly intelligent but struggled to remember to pay the electric bill and buy groceries.

"He could do some complicated formula but couldn't figure out the basics of how to do a normal life," Brian Guzy said. "I thought this would be perfect, the military will take his brain and use it, and they'd give him his clothes and his house."

Michael Guzy was to be discharged from the Marines in two months to start graduate school at the University of Colorado this fall, his father said.

Guzy graduated from Barrington High School in 2006, attended Northern Illinois University then joined the Marine Corps in 2010.

He died in the early morning hours of July 19 after being struck by an SUV while walking across a five-lane stretch of Interstate 5. California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Sanchez said Monday that police are still investigating why Guzy was walking there.

Volunteers from the Illinois Patriot Guard, a group of military veterans and supporters, attended the service, draped the American flag over Guzy's coffin and escorted the funeral procession to the cemetery.

Dave Hume, a ride captain with the patriot guard and Marine veteran from Berwyn, said he has been to 17 funerals this month.

"It is important for the family to see," Hume said, after neatly wrapping the American flag on Guzy's casket. "It reinforces that their lost one is important to other people. They need that as part of the closure process."

Brian Guzy said if his son could be summed up in one picture, it would be one taken of him posing next to a sign that reads "No Smoking, No Alcohol, No glass" while lighting a cigarette and holding up a bottle of Michelob Ultra.

"He had a real ironic sense of humor and anyone who knows Michael would get it right away," Brian Guzy said.