RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Tony I. M. Borrero was born in Milpitas, raised in Hayward, and settled in Rancho Cordova in the mid-1960s where he forged a second career with the Sacramento Army Depot. In February of 2020, he will celebrate his 100^th birthday alongside his wife who will celebrate her 96^th this October. The couple met when Borrero was stationed at Camp Kearns, an Army Air Force base in Utah during WWII. Tony and Ludivina were married in August, 1946. Her advice for a long marriage is simple: “A lot of patience and respect.”

“Tony joined the Army Air Corps in 1939 where he trained as an Aviation Cadet,” said his son, Anthony Borrero of North Highlands. A mishap on the baseball field left him with a broken wrist and a new assignment with a Coast Artillery Squadron.

Another mishap saved his life and cost many others theirs said Anthony. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tony and his squadron, part of Operation Plum, headed from Pearl Harbor towards the Philippines where they planned to reinforce the group of islands from Japanese attack. A quick stop in Australia to resupply went a bit awry.

Tony missed the ship’s movement and did not reach the Philippines. “Other servicemen from Operation Plum landed in the Philippines and were captured when Bataan fell to the Japanese and many,” his son said, “died on the Bataan Death March,” what has been called “one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare” in a story for the USO.

Tony went on to serve with the 480^th Service Squadron 5^th Air Force in Australia and New Guinea between 1941 and 1944. He returned to the United States after the war and married his sweetheart in 1946. He retired from his first career in 1965 as a Senior Master Sergeant, one of the most difficult enlisted positions to attain. He remained with Headquarters 20^th Air Force at March Air Force Base in Riverside, CA where he retired from his first career, according to his son, Anthony.

When Tony was sent to Japan, Ludivina lived with her mother for a year in Utah until she could join her husband. The couple traveled the world, living in Japan for three years, where Anthony was born, and in Morocco for two years around 1969.

“We lived in Casablanca a year before we moved onto the base. We had a big villa we rented from a Frenchman,” she said. “It overlooked the ocean.”

After leaving Rancho Cordova in 1992, Tony and Ludivina returned to Utah where her sister and brother live. Although Tony no longer has his greenhouse where he grew flowers and does not work much in stained glass these days, the couple continues to be active in their community.

“We are lucky and blessed to still have them in our lives!” wrote Anthony in an email.