| From The Idaho Statesman IdahoStatesMan.com
04/16/07:
Soldier looked forward to college
Paratrooper was a quiet guy with a sense of humor
By Sandra Forester - Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 04/16/07
Army paratrooper John Borbonus recently decided to go to college and looked forward to working out the details after returning from Iraq, his father, Hans Borbonus, said.
"I would have liked to trade with him so he could see the world," Borbonus said Sunday. "I would not wish this on anyone."
John Borbonus, 19, was killed Thursday in Baghdad with another soldier from his unit when a car bomb exploded.
His father had few details Sunday and does not yet know when his son's body will be returned for burial. John was his only child.
The two last saw each other a couple of weeks before John left for Iraq about a year ago.
John liked various sports, including skiing and lacrosse. He wanted to build his physical strength and thought joining the Army would do it, his father said.
Hans Barbonus, who owns Falcon Crest Golf Course and Cloverdale Nursery, said his son worked briefly for him.
"You know how kids are. You send them out to clean, and they take the cart racing around the golf course," he said.
Borbonus said his son had a tremendous sense of humor but was somewhat quiet.
The 2005 Boise High School graduate had been in Iraq for about a year. It was his first tour of duty, his father said.
John Borbonus was serving with the U.S. Army 4th Combat Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska.
The military has not released the name of the other man killed with him.
Borbonus' death came about a week after two Navy sailors from Idaho were killed in Iraq.
U.S. Army paratrooper and infantryman Chad Pfeifer, 25, of Caldwell was seriously injured in Iraq last week, but it's unclear what day. |
