16 July 1969 – Capt. James V. Dawson was serving with the 416th TFS/7th AF. He had begun his service after enlisting in the USAF and entering through the regular military. Dawson was born on February 16, 1940, and lived in Ashland, KY.
On July 16, 1969, he was the pilot of a North American Super Sabre Fighter (F-100D #563420) on a mission over South Vietnam. As he returned from his mission, he overshot the runway and applied power. He lost control and tried to eject over the South China Sea, but his parachute did not deploy. His remains were not recovered.
James Vernon Dawson is buried or memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
James is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. Name inscribed at