World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He received the award from President Harry S. Truman at the White House on August 23. 1945, for his actions as a corporal with Company C, 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, US Army, on January 15, 1945, near Arloncourt, Belgium. The son of Luxembourg immigrants, following the prelature death of his father, he went to work to help support his family after completing the eighth grade. He was an auto-mechanic at the time he joined the Army in February 1941 after the US entry into World War II. Following his recruit and combat training, he was sent to the European Theater of Operations. On that day, he used hand grenades and his carbine to single-handedly destroy two German machine gun positions before working his way through a honey-combed series of enemy foxholes, killing and capturing German soldiers as he went. After the war, he returned to the US and worked as a farm hand. He died at the age of 55. His Medal of Honor citation reads: "He displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. His platoon, in which he was a tank-destroyer gunner, was held up by antitank, machinegun, and rifle fire from enemy troops dug in along a ridge about 200 yards to the front. Noting a machinegun position in this defense line, he fired upon it with his 76-mm. gun killing 1 man and silencing the weapon. He dismounted from his vehicle and, under direct enemy observation, crossed open ground to capture the 2 remaining members of the crew. Another machinegun, about 250 yards to the left, continued to fire on him. Through withering fire, he advanced on the position. Throwing a grenade into the emplacement, he killed 1 crewmember and again captured the 2 survivors. He was subjected to concentrated small-arms fire but, with great bravery, he worked his way a quarter mile along the ridge, attacking hostile soldiers in their foxholes with his carbine and grenades. When he had completed his self-imposed mission against powerful German forces, he had destroyed 2 machinegun positions, killed 8 of the enemy and captured 18 prisoners, including 2 bazooka teams. Cpl. Beyer's intrepid action and unflinching determination to close with and destroy the enemy eliminated the German defense line and enabled his task force to gain its objective."