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FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Pfc. Lawrence R. Beard, 27, of Westminster, Maryland, who died while a World War II prisoner of war, will be interred Sept. 30 in St. Marks Cemetery in Snydersburg, Maryland. Fletchers Funeral Home will coordinate graveside services preceding the interment.
Beard was a member of Headquarters Company, 803rd Engineer Battalion (Aviation), when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp #1. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
Beard died Nov. 4, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 707.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Beard on June 26, 2025.
For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify PFC. Beard’s remains, please visit: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4281788/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-beard-l/
U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.
Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Fletchers Funeral Home, 410-848-7575.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2025 09:45 |
| Story ID: | 548893 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Hometown: | WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, After Decades, World War II POW Finally Laid to Rest in Maryland, by William Costello, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
