Ernest Keiwo Tabata

Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Ernest Keiwo Tabata, 84, of Fayetteville, died Monday, Aug. 10, 2015.

Memorial services will be at 10:00 am, Friday Aug. 21, in JFK Memorial Chapel of Fort Bragg. Burial will follow in the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake. Visitation, 7 to 9 pm, Thursday, Aug. 20, at Rogers and Breece Funeral Home in Fayetteville.

He was survived by his sons, Ernest, George and Herbert; brothers, Lawrence and Robert; and two grandchildren.

Mr. Tabata was a combat engineer in the Korean War and belonged to a covert special operations unit that went behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. He began his military career in June 1946 as a volunteer in the Hawaii Territorial Guard. Two years later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in Hawaii. He was among the first American soldiers sent to South Korea to repel the invasion by the North. In Sept. 1952, Mr. Tabata received an honorable discharge but re-enlisted in January 1955. For the next six years, he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd and 11th Airborne Divisions. He became a triple volunteer in January 1961, when he applied for duty with the Special Forces. In December 1981, after 30 years of active-duty service, Mr. Tabata returned to the Special Forces Training Group as a civilian instructor and taught Special Forces engineers. On Aug. 2, 2013, he was honored at a ceremony where he retired from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School as an 18C instructor. Mr. Tabata gave a total of 59 years to government service.

Excerpts taken from the Fayetteville Observer.

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