(Tribune News Service) -- The remains of a Maryland-born World War II soldier who died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp were buried at St. Mark's Cemetery in Snydersburg, Md., this week, according to a news release from Carroll County Government. Army Pfc. Lawrence Beard's remains were identified in June, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Beard's dignified transfer occurred at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Sept. 26. On Monday, a funeral service took place at the cemetery.
Commissioner Kenneth Kiler attended the funeral service and described the traditional military service honoring Beard's service and legacy. "It's such an honor to see a veteran who that many years ago, lost his life and finally got back here," he told the Carroll County Times. Beard's niece and nephew received an American flag at the service.
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners proclaimed Sept. 26 as Pfc. Lawrence Richard "Dick" Beard Hero's Homecoming Day. "His sacrifice, along with so many others, represents the highest measure of devotion to country and freedom," a news release from the county said.
Beard was one of more than 200 members of the military from Carroll, his place of birth, honored with a luminary at DoveHouse's Gold Star Family Day event on Sept. 28.
Beard's service
Beard enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in February 1941. He was among American and Filipino service members captured by Japanese forces that invaded the Philippine Islands in December of that same year. Beard was one of thousands of soldiers forced to walk in the 65-mile Bataan Death March, and died in a POW camp on Nov. 4, 1942.
He was initially buried in the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery, in Common Grave 707. After World War II, the American Graves Registration Service exhumed nine sets of remains from the camp's cemetery, including Beard's. Itmoved them to a temporary U.S. site near Manila. In 2019, the DPAA exhumed and analyzed remains from Common Grave 707. Beard's body was identified this summer.
Last month marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.