A son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Mayer of York, Pennsylvania, John Lyne Mayor attended Saint Luke's College, near Philadelphia, Pa, and then received an appointment to the US Naval Academy where he was a Midshipman from July 1, 1909, until his resignation on June 12, 1912, as a non-graduating member of the Class of 1913.

Commissioned as a 2ndLt, United States Marine Corps, to rank from 10 December 1912, Mayer attended the precursor of today's "TBS" at Norfolk, Virginia, prior to serving at Guantanamo as a student officer under Captain "Hiking Hiram" Bearss of Samar fame.

Mayer's subsequent service included three years aboard the battleship USS South Carolina.

The officer then served in Haiti during World War I.

In October 1916 Mayer was promoted to the rank of 1stLt USMC to rank from 29 August 1916.

In June, 1917, he was advanced to the rank of Captain, USMC, to rank from 29 August 1916, the same date of seniority in rank as his previous promotion.

Highly regarded within the Corps, Captain Mayer gave up the command of his company in October 1918, having been authorized by the Secretary of the Navy to assume the rank and to wear the insignia of a Major (Temporary rank), USMC, as of September 13, 1918.

On April 4, 1919, while in command of US Marines and members of the Haitian Gendarmerie, Major John Lyne Mayer was killed in action during a skirmish against the insurrectionary Haitian "Caco" forces about 5 miles north east of Mirebalais.

His funeral service was at at St John's Episcopal Church of York, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1919

Mayer, John Lyne, Maj