Corporal Tyler was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy near Taejon, South Korea on 20 July 950, forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March", and died while a prisoner at An-Dong, North Korea on 14 June 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Tyler was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, 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.