Private First Class Tanner was a member of the 20th Signal Air-Ground Liaison Company, U.S. Army. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 20 May 1951 and died while a prisoner on 25 April 1952.

Tanner was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.