Captain Royer was the aircraft commander of a B-29A Superfortress Bomber with the 371st Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Wing based at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. On 13 September 1952, while making a bomb run on the Suiho Hydroelectric Plant, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Royer was awarded the Air Medal, 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.