William Robert Lyman Jr. was from Detroit and was a defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944 and was a member of the National Workers League. He was a former pugilist and law student. He was also a member of David Baxter's Social Republic Society.
In 1942 he was a seaman in the United States Merchant Marine, transporting supplies to Great Britain when he learned of his indictment for sedition.