Millerton plans for Memorial Day

MILLERTON — Technical Sergeant Fourth Grade Gilbert Stevens Tabor Jr. will be honored as part of Millerton’s Memorial Day observances on Monday, May 26.

Tabor, son of Dr. Gilbert S. Tabor, a longtime Millerton physician, and his wife, Grace Bell Tabor, was born April 15, 1923. He graduated from Avon Old Farms School in June 1941 and entered Trinity College in Hartford in the fall of 1941 as a pre-med student.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves at Hartford on Sept. 2, 1942, and received a student deferment of one year. On June 2, 1943, he was activated and sent to Ft. McClellan, Ala., for infantry basic training.

While in training, he received an invitation for membership into the Millerton American Legion Post. (Tabor’s father, Dr. Tabor, a World War I veteran, was a founding and charter member of the post). He responded with a letter to William J. Bradley, then post commander, thanking the members for the invitation and stated that he "will do my best to complete my job with the spirit, courage and determination which was typical of your work in 1917."

After completing basic training, he was sent to Camp Butner, N.C., and assigned to the 78th Infantry "Lightning" Division, 309th Infantry Regiment, as a BAR rifleman and participated in further training.

During these maneuvers, and in light of his pre-med schooling, he was reassigned to the Medical Detachment, Company I, 309th Regiment. Completing combat medical training at Camp Pickett, Va., on Oct. 11, 1944, he shipped with his division to England for three more weeks of training and then entered combat in Belgium, France, and Germany (Battle of the Bulge).

In continuous combat, he was wounded in action on Feb. 5, 1945, while performing a heroic act for which he received the Silver Star, the third highest award for Gallantry in Action.

His citation reads, "For gallantry in action in the vicinity of *******, Germany, when five casualties were incurred by crossfire from enemy machine guns located in a pillbox and a dugout, Technician Fourth Grade Tabor volunteered to attempt to reach them. He ran and crawled over 75 yards of open terrain and administered first aid to the casualties. As he began to evacuate the first casualty, the man was wounded a second time. Technician Fourth Grade Tabor stopped, and while treating the casualty’s second wound, was wounded himself. His gallant action was instrumental in saving the lives of three of the men and is in accordance with the highest military traditions."

Tabor, evacuated to an Army Hospital in England, succumbed to his wounds on April 24, 1945. His remains were repatriated in 1948 and he is interred in the Tabor family plot, Valley View Cemetery, Dover Plains, N.Y.

A memorial tribute to this hometown hero has been installed in the Millerton American Legion Post Home and will be dedicated as part of our Memorial Day observances. All are invited to attend.