First Lieutenant Lancaster was a member of Company B, 70th Medium Tank Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on 10 October 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Lancaster was awarded 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.