Tabora was one of the last of an increasingly dwindling group of veterans who survived the Bataan Death March in May 1942 after the Japanese captured the Philippines during World War II.

[3] Tabora and thousands of other American servicemen were captured by the Japanese following the outbreak World War II and the occupation of the Philippines.

He survived the infamous Bataan Death March in April 1942,[2] in which hundreds of other prisoners died.

[1] Tabora later wrote of his experience in the camp, "I planned to escape several times, but my physical condition prevented me from doing so.

"[1] Tabora's brother, as well as his commanders and many of his men from his regiment, died as a result of the Baatan Death March and the maltreatment in the POW camp.

When Tabora's unit landed in Inchon, Korea, he reportedly saved one bullet, intending to take his own life if he was captured in combat.

[2] Massachusetts veterans groups tried in vain to have Tabora awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries he sustained as a POW.