Melvin F. Lake was born on March 19, 1920 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa to Daniel George Lake and Laura Mary Lake, Hoffmeyer. Melvin had two brothers, William C. Lake and Daniel Roy Lake. The family lived in Sioux City, where Daniel worked as a salesman for the Waitt and Hruska Commission Company stockyard. Melvin graduated from East High School in Sioux City.

In 1941, Melvin moved to Seattle, King County, Washington. He registered for the draft on July 1, 1941. He was 21 years old, 6’ tall, and weighed 145 pounds. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, and a light complexion. He was a student at the Edison Vocational Technical School and worked at Boeing Aircraft company. He married a divorcee, Irene Beaubien Gibbons, on July 21, 1942 in King County, Washington. Melvin was inducted into the United States Army on June 13, 1944 at Ft. Lewis, Washington. He was listed as single [he was married], had a high school education, and worked as a sheet metal worker.

Private Melvin F. Lake served in Company G, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division. When Melvin joined the Regiment, it had already participated in the New Guinea Campaign and the Leyte Campaign in the Pacific. The 32nd Division landed on the island of Luzon in January 1945. The 127th was tasked with crossing the Carballo Mountains in the central Luzon plain to the Cagayan Valley along the narrow and winding Villa Verde Trail. The U.S. Army and Filipino guerillas found that the Japanese had taken advantage of the rugged terrain to construct strong defenses along the 27-mile-long trail.

Melvin F. Lake was killed in action by an aerial bomb on April 26, 1945 in Luzon. His remains were returned to the United States in 1948 and reinterred in the Graceland Park Cemetery, Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa (Section Fairmount, Lot 10). He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.