Lawrence Peter Foged was born in Carson City, Nevada, May 14, 1891. He was the second son of the late Peter and Mary Foged, of Carson City. Lawrence lived in Carson all his life, attending school there and helping his father on the ranch at the edge of the town. He was one of the most quiet boys in the community and the last one his friends would have expected to display the extraordinary heroism in battle that he did. Never otherwise than reserved and even tempered, he proved to be a soldier of the type who laugh in the face of danger. Lawrence left for Camp Lewis, Washington, with other Ormsby County boys, on the 21st of September, 1917. He remained but a short time in training, for the spring of 1918 found him already in the field in France with Company I, 16th Infantry, of the 1st Division. From that time on he saw some of the hardest fighting of the war, serving through four furious offensives with his division.

The 1st Division spent more days in active sectors than any other American division, it was the first to land in France (June, 1917), the first to carry out an offensive against the enemy (May 28, 1918), and was second to only one division, the Second, in number of casualties suffered. Lawrence fought with them in our first offensive at Cantigny, May 27, 1918, when the 1st Division stormed the heights with a dash that electrified all Europe; he was on the Chateau-Thierry front on July 15th when the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 26th, with the 4th and 28th in support, faced the German offensive; he was in our counter offensive of July 18th when the 1st was in position west of Berzy-le-Sec and, after fighting forward for four days, took that town and the heights above Soissons from seven enemy divisions engaged against it, capturing 3,500 prisoners and 68 field guns; he served at St. Mihiel, September 12th; and, lastly he was fighting with his division in the Argonne from October 1st until he fell in battle on the 9th, in the woods north-east of Fleville. He was hit by a high-explosive shell during the bombardment of their position, and killed instantly. He was buried near an old cemetery about one-half mile south of Fleville. One of the Carson boys who was wounded at Cantigny, and who had known Lawrence all through his army life up to that time, tells of the latter’s fearlessness in battle. “I’ve seen him go through machine-gun fire for water when most of the others didn’t have the heart; he wasn’t afraid to go anywhere–I tell you, that boy was GAME.” The people of Carson miss the quiet boy who used to tend his father’s cows and deliver milk to his patrons, but they glory in the bravery of the patriot who served his Country as a daring soldier and brought eternal honor to his name. His younger brother, John Jacob Foged, of Carson City, and his sister, Mrs. Anna Johnson, of Benicia, California, survive him.