Lawrence Stanley Vivian Moss was born on 8 April 1885 at Nine Mile Creek, now Stanley, Victoria. He was a member of the 1/6 Australian Infantry Regiment in 1910. After the outbreak of the First World War, Moss was working as a letter carrier based at Caufield East. He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Ripponlea on 19 August 1914. The 29-year-old was allotted the service number 909 and the rank of private and assigned to the 5th Infantry Battalion. Moss embarked from Melbourne on 21 October 1914 aboard HMAT Orvieto. During the journey to Egypt, the Orvieto took on board German survivors of the SMS Emden at Colombo. Moss was able to gather several of their autographs in his autograph book.

Moss was promoted to the rank of lance corporal soon after arriving in Egypt in December. The 5th Battalion took part in the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and remained on the peninsular until the evacuation in December. After the campaign Moss was promoted through the ranks and by March 1916 held the rank of sergeant. He was then sent to England in September 1916 and from there was sent to the Western Front in France, joining his battalion in early May 1917. From then until October 1918 he served with the 5th Battalion on the front, participating in the fighting around Ypres in Belgium in 1917, the German spring offensive in early 1918 and the final Allied offensives later that year.

On 23 October 1918 Moss returned for Australia, taking special leave that had been granted to those soldiers who had enlisted in 1914. In 1921 he married Helena at Junee, New South Wales. Lawrence Stanley Vivian Moss passed away on 2 February 1950 at Canberra, aged 65.