First Lieutenant Lorenz was the pilot of a F-84G Thunderjet fighter with the 428th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 474th Fighter Bomber Group. On 19 October 1952, while on a combat mission, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire while on a bomb run and crashed into the target. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Lorenz was awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, 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.