february 15, 1921 - august 8, 1997
rank: Corporal
Dates of Service: 1943 - 1946
Lawrence E. House was born on February 15, 1921, the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Eunice Wesley House of Knightdale, NC, who resided on Old Ferrell Road. He grew up on the family's tobacco farm and attended public school in Knightdale, graduating from Knightdale High School in 1938. He attended college at NC State University, studying Civil Engineering. After becoming very skilled in the art of welding, he moved to Wilmington, NC, in his early twenties to work in the shipyards for the N.C Shipbuilding Company, leading up to WWII. On November 25 1943, he joined the US Marine Corp and completed basic training at Paris Island. He was then attached to Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Corp Division, where he fought in the South Pacific theater (including the battles of Saipan, Tinian, and the Occupation of Japan). Lawrence and three of his four brothers all served in WWII's pacific front (representing the Army, Navy, & Marines), lending to its own literal Knightdale band of brothers on behalf of the House family (luckily, all of whom survived the war). Completing his service on March 6, 1946, he returned to Knightdale and married his fiancé Lucy Reba Stancil 10 days later on March 16, 1946, at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC. Lawrence found employment with Armco Steel Corp (later named AK Steel) in Raleigh, and in 1953, moved to Greensboro, NC, with their oldest two children, Larry and Jane. In 1958 and 1961, they had two more sons, Brad and Mark. Lawrence worked for Armco for 38 years and retired as a Senior Sales Engineer in 1983 and continued to live in Greensboro. At the age of 67, he suffered a significant stroke and was diagnosed with Parkinson's. His wife Reba did a fabulous job of looking after him for 10 years, until he passed away on August 8, 1997, at the age of 76 years old.
