Captain Dawson was a crew member of a B-26C Invader bomber with the 90th Bomber Squadron, 3rd Bomber Wing. On September 2, 1951, while on a night intruder mission, the aircraft crashed in a ball of fire. One parachute was observed. He was taken Prisoner of War and died while a prisoner on November 30, 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.