FORT DETRICK, Md. – The living family members of Pfc. Lawrence R. Beard still have the original Western Union telegrams from 1942 informing them of his capture and later death as a POW in a Japanese prison camp during World War II.
More than 80 years later, Beard has finally returned home.
U.S. Army Master Sgt. William Harbeson served on the team who oversaw Beard’s return to his home in Westminster, Maryland, and supported his family as a casualty assistance officer, or CAO.
It was his sixth assignment since 2018 and certainly his most memorable.
“It was a complete honor, and not many people will get to experience that,” said Harbeson, who currently serves as detachment sergeant for the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment at U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command and plans to retire March 2027.
“I will be able to retire here shortly knowing that I welcomed home and assisted a family member in bringing closure to their fallen Soldier from the ‘40s,” he said. “Being part of that process, it was fulfilling. It was history.”
Beard’s funeral service took place on Sept. 30 at St. Marks Cemetery in Snydersburg, Maryland, marking the final stage of the late 27-year-old’s long road home following his death in November 1942.
Beard was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured and taken to POW camps following the Japanese invasion of the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines. He endured the infamous 65-mile Bataan Death March and later died in Cabanatuan POW Camp #1 along with over 2,500 others during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Beard died Nov. 4, 1942, and was buried with other deceased prisoners in a common grave at the camp.
“Every day at noon, they dug a new hole and anybody that died from noon to noon the next day, they got buried in that hole,” Harbeson explained.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service, or AGRS, was charged with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific. Beard’s remains were one of seven initially recorded as “unknowns” in one specific grave at the camp.
Since 2014, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reopened investigations into the unknowns. Through DNA testing and dental, anthropological and radio isotope analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence, Beard was officially accounted for on June 26.
Following identification, Beard’s remains were escorted through Hawaii enroute to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where family, service members, veteran groups and emergency service members rendered honors through a dignified transfer into an awaiting hearse.
Harbeson assisted family members at the planeside ceremony and then joined the convoy accompanying Beard’s remains to the funeral home in Westminster.
“On that convoy, every overpass that we passed had emergency services vehicles parked, lights on, with people standing there saluting him,” he said. “We did that all the way to the funeral home.”
CAO duties can vary depending on the situation, but generally involve assisting surviving family members with benefits, coordinating funeral arrangements and military honors, managing personal effects, keeping the family informed about the status of investigations, and offering compassion and support during the grieving process.
“I would like to commend Master Sgt. Harbeson,” said Jean Christensen, a surviving niece of Pfc. Beard who attended his funeral services. “He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful telling me of our next steps. He stayed by my side and my family. I appreciated his assistance and information.
“(Harbeson) is a credit to his uniform and the United States Army,” she added.
Harbeson said this assignment was less about helping with benefits and grief support than about bringing closure for a family and a community.
“Through this case, I’ve learned more about World War II and the Bataan Death March than I’ve learned in my entire time being in the military,” Harbeson said, “but it also showed me how a community comes together to celebrate the return of their Soldier.”
Headquartered at Fort Detrick, AMLC, a major subordinate command under U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, serves as the Army’s Class VIII medical materiel command, delivering medical logistics, sustainment and materiel readiness from the strategic support area to the forward tactical edge to increase survivability and sustain fighting strength.
| Date Taken: | 12.08.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.08.2025 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 553363 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army NCO reflects on honor to welcome home a POW as casualty assistance officer, by C.J. Lovelace, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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