After completing his schooling in Pune, Tarapore joined the Hyderabad Army, and was commissioned in January 1942.

Initially he joined the infantry, but was later transferred to an armoured regiment, the 1st Hyderabad Imperial Service Lancers.

[3] His father, B. P. Tarapore,[1] was a scholar of Persian and Urdu languages; he worked for the same Customs and Excise Department.

When his battalion was being inspected by Major General Syed Ahmed El Edroos, then Commander-in-Chief of the Hyderabad state forces, a live grenade accidentally fell into a bay area during a live-ammunition training exercise.

[4] As a result of Operation Polo in 1948, Hyderabad merged with the Union of India, and its forces were eventually amalgamated into the Indian Army.

[4][6] India acquired Centurion tanks in the early 1960s[7] and Tarapore was one of the officers selected to attend a training course in the United Kingdom.

[10] Beginning in April 1965, India and Pakistan engaged in a series of skirmishes across the Line of Control (LOC).

On 5 August, Pakistani soldiers crossed the LOC dressed as Kashmiri locals, heading for various areas within Kashmir.

[12] On 1 September, Pakistan launched a counterattack, named Operation Grand Slam, to capture vital points that would cut off supply routes to Indian troops.

[13] Later on 6 September, Indian forces crossed the Radcliffe Line, marking the official beginning of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

As part of the regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Tarapore, was attacking Phillora from Chawinda, it encountered Pakistani armour advancing from Wazirwali.

On 11 September 1965, the Poona Horse regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Burzarji Tarapore was assigned the task of delivering the main armored thrust for capturing Phillora in the Sialkot Sector in Pakistan.

B. Tarapore who was then at the head of his regiment, defied the enemy’s charge, held his ground and gallantly attacked Philloira with one of his squadrons supported by an infantry battalion.

His name is displayed near the eternal flame and as relief mural on the semi circumference wall with the Param Vir Chakra awardees who attained martyrdom in Jammu and Kashmir.