Lawrence Alton Dyer
Private First Class Lawrence Alton Dyer, 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group, U.S. Army Air Force. Serial: 6978615. He lived at 943 Cedar Street, Camden NJ. Buried at Beverly National Cemetery, Plot E O 2083, Beverly NJ.
Private First Class Lawrence Alton Dyer was born May 18, 1919 in Greensboro MD. He spent most of his life in Camden, attending the Sewell School and the Camden County Vocational Training School. He enlisted in the Army on February 16, 1941 and went overseas in June 1942 as a member of the medical detachment of the 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group. This unit had been delivered by ship to Ghana in West Africa to the Middle East to aid the British 8th Army in their fight against Italian and German forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Private Dyer and his unit were first based in what was then Palestine, then in Egypt as combined Anglo-American forces under General Montgomery chased the enemy 1400 miles across the Libyan desert and out of Africa. After reaching Algiers, Dyer participated in the invasion of Sicily and Italy, and his unit was based on the island of Corsica when he met his end.
Lawrence Alton Dyer was survived by his mother, Mrs. Eva Dyer, of 943 Cedar Street in Camden NJ. He also was survived by a brother James, who is in the Army and was stationed at Newport AR as a baker, and a sister Mrs. Norman Tantum of Hamilton Square NJ. After the war, his body was returned to the United States, and he was buried at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly NJ on November 24, 1948.
Camden Grid Star Killed by Bomb Blast in England
Camden Courier-Post —
3 Others from So. Jersey Among European War Dead
“Ted” Bunalski Victim of Explosion in Fighting Blaze in Plane
A former Camden scholastic football star was killed by the explosion of a fragmentation bomb in England, three other soldiers from the area previously reported missing are listed as dead, another is a prisoner and three men have been wounded, according to Army and Navy announcements.
Dead:
Pvt. Theodore R. Bunalski, 22, 711 Birch street.
Pvt. Lawrence A. Dyer, 25, 943 Cedar street.
Private Dyer was a veteran of two years in the African and Italian campaigns. He was attached to the Ambulance Corps of the 57th Fighting Group of the 67th Fighting Squadron, known as the “57th Fighting Cocks.” They named their outfit after a pet rooster they carried thousands of miles after leaving the States.
Killed in Action
Dyer was first reported missing in Corsica. The War Department now has notified his mother, Mrs. Eva Dyer, of the Cedar street address, that he was killed in action.
A letter written to a cousin on May 3 said he was going into combat shortly. Two days later he was killed. He first served in Palestine, then in Egypt with the American contingents under General Montgomery and the British forces, which chased the Nazis under Rommel 1400 miles across the Libyan desert and out of Africa. After reaching Algers Dyer participated in the invasion of Sicily and Italy.
Attended Camden Schools
He was born in Greensboro, Md. He spent most of his life in Camden, attending Sewell and the Camden County Vocational Training Schools. He enlisted in the Army on Feb. 16, 1941, and went overseas in June, 1942. He also is survived by a brother, James, who is in the Army and stationed at Newport, Ark., as a baker, and a sister, Mrs. Norman Tantum, of Hamilton Square.