When Herbert B. Boyer was born in February 1898 in California, his father, John, was 28 and his mother, Lulu, was 27. He had one brother and one sister. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Captain in Company A, 1st Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action on May 5, 1918 and is now buried in Park View Cemetery and Funeral Home, Manteca, San Joaquin County, California, USA.