Guy Garcia was born on 25 June 1932 at Bonnat, in the Creuse neighbourhood.
He enrolled at Ecole Principale du service de Santé de la Marine, in Bordeaux. On 26 November 1958, he earned a doctorate in Medicine and decided to join the Marine Corps. In 1959, he came out first at the end of an in-service training in Marseille.
He served successively as Chief Medical Officer of the Seno military base in Laos, and as army Chief Medical Officer in Togo.
In August 1968, he was appointed Chief Medical Officer of the 6th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment and he left for Chad. Upon his arrival at Fort-Lamy, he joined an intervention unit and participated in all its military operations.
As a constant volunteer for operational tasks, Chief Medical Officer Guy Garcia was noted for his courage and equanimity, particularly on 7 September 1969 during a violent confrontation with rebels in the N’Gourma palm grove. Under heavy enemy fire, in which he was partly hurt, he carried a wounded soldier on his shoulders back to the French lines. He spent the whole night that followed administering treatment to three seriously wondered soldiers in a bid to save their lives.
On 24 March 1970, Guy GARCIA joined the 6th Marine Infantry Parachute Company in an operation at Gouro, BET (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti) Division. During this bloody confrontation, he ignored every risk and immediately went ahead to rescue the first casualties. Unfortunately, he was the target of a soldier who laid ambush nearby. Guy GARCIA was hit in the head by a bullet and he died on the spot at the age of thirty-eight.
Bearer of the Cross of Military Valour with two commendations (Meritorious unit commendation and Army commendation), first class Medical Officer Guy GARCIA was Knight of the Legion of Honour. He was awarded the Chadian military Cross of Merit with a silver star.
His Army commendation reads as follows :
“Always ready for operational tasks, with a passion for his job and extraordinary brilliance, first class Medical Officer, GARCIA, who combined the highest military qualities with human qualities, risked everything to proof his solidarity with the parachute regiment and to accomplish his task as Medical Officer”.
The 1970 batches of Ecoles du service de santé des armées (ESSA) in Bordeaux and Lyon were christened after him.