Aviation Machinist's Mate Third Class Lively was a crew member aboard a patrol bomber, P2V-3 Neptune, from Patrol Squadron 6 (VP-6) at Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan. He was on an intelligence gathering mission over the Sea of Japan on 6 November 1951 and was shot down by Soviet fighters near Vladivostok, USSR. He was presumed dead on 7 November 1952. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Lively 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.