USMA Class of 1939, Major Lavell was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he commanded the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy near Kunu-ri, North Korea on December 1, 1950 and died of septicemia while a prisoner on February 8, 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.