Sergeant Lawrence was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On the night of 7 July 1953, as he slept in his bunker near Sadanggol, North Korea, the bunker caved in suffocating him.

Lawrence was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean War Service Medal.