Hometown: West Paterson, NJ
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Advisory Team 23, 2nd Battalion, 42nd ARVN Regiment, Military Assistance Command Vietnam Advisors
Military Honors: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: July 5, 1967 - KIA in Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam
Age: 25
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

Anthony “Tony” Borrego was born on March 25, 1942, in West Paterson, New Jersey—just across the Hudson River from New York City. He grew up there with his proudly Italian Catholic family—sister Sally, parents Dominic and Maria Borrego.

At Passaic Valley High School in nearby Little Falls, New Jersey, Tony was a stand-out student and musician. His classmate (who became a professional singer-songwriter), Michael Smith recalls, “We were basses in choir together. Tony read music very well and I didn’t read at all so I would just listen to Tony, and I’d sing the notes he sang. He and I sang and played guitars together. I would take the bus to his house on occasion, and he would give me guitar lessons and let me play his beautiful Gibson electric. I remember us doing ‘Bye Bye Love’ for some show at a hospital. He was an excellent guitarist and a fine pianist who played for the choir when we did Handel. He also played the accordion quite well.”

After graduating from high school in 1959, Borrego spent two years studying at Newark (New Jersey) College of Engineering.

In 1961, Borrego was awarded a coveted appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, through a Congressional nomination by U.S. Representative Gordon Canfield. Canfield told the Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey) that Borrego was “the most dedicated, the most deeply loyal, and one of the finest young men I have ever met.”

At West Point, Tony was known for his intense pride in his Italian heritage, his country, and the Academy. Besides his studies, Borrego sang in West Point’s Cadet Glee Club and Catholic Chapel Choirs. He also achieved a brown belt in judo.

1965 was an eventful year for Borrego. In January he traveled to Washington D.C. to represent the Academy in the Inauguration Parade for President Lyndon B. Johnson. In June he graduated with his West Point class and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. He completed Army Airborne and Ranger training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Just six months removed from his West Point graduation, Borrego was assigned to a post in the Panama Canal Zone. There he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant. He requested and was granted a transfer to Vietnam, arriving there in November 1966.

Rep. Canfield recalls, “He was eager to do his duty in Vietnam. He felt he owed a great debt to his country for all that had been given him.”

Borrego was assigned to Advisory Team 23, 2nd Battalion, 42nd ARVN Regiment, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Advisors. MACV Teams were small groups of American soldier-advisors who were assigned to remote areas, supported by Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese) army units whose capabilities were often limited and whose loyalties were sometimes suspect.

1LT Borrego was an advisor with U.S. Special Forces, attached to a South Vietnamese “Montagnard” (French for “Mountain People”) unit operating in Kon Tum Province. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro describes the Montagnards as, “hilltribe people…recruited by the U.S. Special Forces to serve as front-line fighters with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. After the United States withdrew from Vietnam, the Montagnards were targeted by the Communist Vietnam government as traitors and U.S. spies.”

On June 28, 1967, Borrego was involved in a clash with enemy Viet Cong near the Cambodian border with South Vietnam. He was wounded by multiple grenade fragments and hospitalized. At first, his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. But a week later his condition worsened, and he succumbed to his wounds.

1LT Anthony Joseph Borrego, lost at age 25, was laid to rest near his hometown. He is honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., where his name is inscribed on Panel 23E, Line 9.

Sources
Artist’s rendering by Craig Du Mez, from original photo
The Herald-News, July 7, 1967: Ruthorford, West Paterson Officers Die in Vietnam War
New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation: Anthony J Borrego – 1LT
West-Point.org: Anthony Joseph Borrego
HonorStates.org: Anthony J Borrego
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, The Wall of Faces: Anthony J Borrego
The Herald-News, July 10, 1967: Military Funeral For Lt. Borrego
MACVTeams.org: MACV Teams
University of North Carolina at Greensboro: Montagnards
Burial Site: Find a Grave