Dawson, James Vernon
Air Force Captain

James Vernon Dawson, age 29, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.

Service era: Vietnam

Parents: William R. Dawson (1909 – 1981) and Marian B. Hitch Dawson (1911 – 1988)

Date of death: Wednesday, July 16, 1969
Death details: Captain James Vernon Dawson entered the U.S. Air Force from Kentucky and served with the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On July 16, 1969, he piloted a single-seat F-100D Super Sabre (tail number 56-3420, call sign “Elect 62”) as the second of two aircraft returning to Tuy Hoa Air Force Base, South Vietnam, from an uneventul combat mission. During his final approach to land, Capt Dawson overshot the runway, appeared to apply engine power, then lost control of the aircraft and ejected over the South China Sea. However, his parachute failed to open before he landed in the water. Search and rescue efforts could not locate him and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Captain Dawson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency