Not even broken spine can deter WWII veteran

Neither a broken back suffered as a young soldier, nor cancer surgery much later in life could stop Guido "Guy" DeMichele of St. Charles from living a full life.

Mr. DeMichele was in the Army Signal Corps and stationed in the Southern U.S. when he fell out of a pine tree and fractured his spine.

Doctors predicted he wouldn't walk again. He was in a body cast for six months and hospitalized for a year. He recovered sufficiently enough to be sent to Normandy, France, a day or two after D-Day on June 6, 1944 with the battle still raging.

Mr. DeMichele marched with other soldiers to help with the liberation of France. When his injury started to bother him, his superiors moved him to a camp for German prisoners of war on a beach near Normandy where his duties were less strenuous.

Mr. DeMichele, 88, died Feb. 9 after suffering a stroke a few days before. He had been living alone in St. Charles and had the stroke after a full day of shopping with his daughter, Sandra Jensen, of Lily Lake.

"The priest at the funeral called him a gentle man and he was," Jensen said. "He was always there for us. He was just a great guy."

Mr. DeMichele was born Aug. 15, 1920 in Chicago to John and Karina DeMichele. He attended Steinmetz High School.

He returned home from World War II in December 1945. Mr. DeMichele married Frances Milazzo, the young woman who was waiting for him, in May 1946. They had been married for 49 years when Frances died in 1995.

Mr. DeMichele sold life insurance for Western and Southern Life. In order to spend more time with his family, he switched to selling high-quality cigars. After officially retiring, Mr. DeMichele worked part-time before starting his own business selling cigars after his wife died.

"Selling was his hobby, he enjoyed it," said daughter Sharon Clough of St. Charles. "He was good at it because he was sincere. He delivered his last cigar the day he had his stroke."

Mr. DeMichele enjoyed taking his family on vacations while his daughters were growing up. Jensen accompanied him to France in 2000.

"We looked for the prison camp where he was stationed, but we couldn't find it," Jensen said. "It's interesting. He never talked much about his time in the Army until after the 50th anniversary of D-Day. My mother knew he had nightmares, but he would never talk about it."

Mr. DeMichele spent many hours volunteering at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5036 and the American Legion Post 342 in St. Charles, including helping with bingo and selling poppies.

In addition to his daughters, he is survived by his friend, Rose Quattrocchi, of Addison; his grandchildren, Heather Schuette, Jonathan Jensen and Mark Clough; his brother, Louis DeMichele; his sister-in-law Rose Milazzo; and many nieces and nephews.

Services have been held.