Vindy.com - Casualty relished being a Marine

GREENVILLE, Pa. — Marine Sgt. Michael A. Marzano didn't have to be on active duty in Iraq last week when he was killed by a suicide bomber during combat in Hadithah, Iraq.

But he wanted to be there.

Marzano, 28, of Greenville, who was killed Saturday, served on active duty in the Marines from 1999 until 2003.

In the reserves since completing active duty, Marzano volunteered to go to Iraq and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment of the 4th Marine Division. He went to Iraq in February, his father, Albert Marzano, said.

"That would have been the Mike I knew," said David Ciafre, a Sharon High School guidance counselor and Marzano's wrestling coach.

Ciafre said he remembers Marzano as being very persistent with a lot of heart.

"There wasn't a lot of quit in the kid even when he was outgunned. He didn't back away," he said.

Ciafre coached Marzano during his senior year.

"He got excited when he wrestled someone who was very good. For others, it would be like going to the gallows," Ciafre said.

Dreaming to be a Marine

Being in the Marines was a lifelong ambition for Marzano.

"He's wanted to go into the Marines since I can remember," his father said.

Marzano graduated from Sharon High in 1995 but was refused admission by the Marines because he tore a knee ligament in a high school wrestling tournament his senior year, his father said.

Ciafre said that even with the torn ligament, Marzano wrestled in the district tournament. However, he was limited with his sore knee and ended up losing.

Marzano had surgery, and after graduation, he kept applying to the Marines until he was accepted in 1999.

After his active duty was completed, Marzano won several amateur boxing titles in Youngstown and Cleveland, competing as a heavyweight and light heavyweight, Albert Marzano said. But he was gentle outside the ring, and the Marines remained his passion, his father said.

Albert Marzano is also a Marine Corps veteran and served in Vietnam in 1969.

"Anyone who ever met him that I know of was just amazed at his politeness, his manner, such a great personality he had," Albert Marzano said. "He was really, really proud of being a Marine. He was really gung-ho. It's what he wanted to do."

Likable personality

Ciafre said Marzano transferred from Reynolds High School to Sharon in his junior year and came out for the wrestling team as a senior.

"He was a very likable guy, very personable with a good sense of humor," Ciafre said.

Despite being the new guy on the team in his senior year, he was accepted by his teammates.

"A lot of times, in situations like that, new guys aren't part of the team; they are on the periphery. But in no time, Mike was part of the team. The kids just liked him."

Ciafre said that, in general, many wrestlers tend to join the Marines.

"I have numerous former wrestlers who are in the Marines, and two are in Iraq now. I've been holding my breath," he said.

Albert Marzano said funeral arrangements are being handled by Loutenzenhizer-Jordan Funeral Home, 366 S. Main St., Greenville. Final arrangements depend on when his son's body is flown into Pittsburgh from Delaware, but he said he expects the funeral to be Saturday or Monday, with calling hours the day before.

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