Juan Garza was heading down the wrong road. He was involved with gangs and regularly skipped school.
His aunt and uncle invited him to move to rural Michigan to live with them, and he left behind the bad-boy days of south Texas.
Four years later, he graduated from high school, much to his uncle's surprise.
"He proved me wrong. I never thought he would do it," Michael Bocher said. "He made everybody proud."
Immediately after graduation last year, he joined the Marines.
Pfc. Juan G. Garza Jr., 20, died Tuesday when he was hit by sniper fire while patrolling an airport in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
The transition to life in Temperance, Mich., was difficult for Garza, even though it had been his decision to leave Texas.
After his first day of ninth grade, Garza asked his uncle, "Did you know I'm the only Mexican in that school?"
Bocher tried to help his nephew adjust.
"We knew this was the best thing for him to do," Bocher said. "We wanted him to have a better life."
Joe Palka, the principal at Summerfield High School, said Garza fit in well.
"He was not what you would call a great student," Palka said. "He was a great kid."
Garza was a football player and had a vibrant personality. One day he showed up for school in a big cowboy hat and cowboy boots.
"I remember how much he would laugh and make other people laugh," Palka said.
He and his girlfriend, whom he met working at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant, were planning to get married in 2005. Instead, he and Casey Cole were married the day before he left for the Persian Gulf.
Union-Tribune library researcher Anne Magill contributed to this report.
Kristen Green: (619) 542-4576; kristen.green@uniontrib.com
