Soldier man died in lake (8)
I believe the answer is:
commando
'soldier' is the definition.
(I know that commando is a type of soldier)
'man died in lake' is the wordplay.
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'lake' becomes 'como' (I have seen 'Italian lake ' mean 'como' so perhaps 'lake' could also mean 'como').
'man'+'d'='mand'
'mand' going within 'como' is 'COMMANDO'.
(Other definitions for commando that I've seen before include "A specially trained soldier" , "Military raider" , "Member of a special service military unit" , "Green Beret" , "specially-trained soldier" .)