Lawson Eugene Perry, Jr. was born on October 14, 1921. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. L.E. Perry of Marshall St. in Graham, North Carolina. Perry graduated from Graham High School, attended State College, and had worked for Burlington Mills Corporation and later Standard Hosiery. He received his pilot’s wings in December 1943 and had been overseas since May 1944.

Lawson served in the 43rd Troop Carrier Squadron, 315th Troop Carrier Group, as a Second Lieutenant and Pilot of the C-47A Dakota #42-24176 in World War II.

On August 12, 1944, their aircraft was one of 18 aircraft airborne from Spanhoe on a night formation sortie. The formation comprised two flights of 3 elements of 3 aircraft in V formation, each flight also being a V formation of 3 elements. During the sortie, the formation encountered unexpected bad weather. This aircraft was the lead aircraft of the second element of the second flight. The flight was approaching a weather front at 1500 feet altitude when the leader tried to avoid it by letting down to a lower altitude and turning to the left. During the turn, the flight flew into the rain, and the pilot, 2nd Lt Lawson E Perry Jr, left the formation as the rain on his windscreen distorted his view of the other aircraft. The aircraft hit the ground while Lt Perry was letting down out of the rain before he became aware of how close to the ground he was flying. An altimeter was retrieved from the wreckage, reading some 45 feet below the height of the local terrain. The aircraft was destroyed in the crash, pilot 2nd Lt Lawson E Perry Jr, co-pilot 2nd Lt Robert A Ulland, engineer T/Sgt Winston E Brown, and radio operator Sgt Bob W Coulon were all killed in the crash.

2Lt Perry is now buried in the Linwood Cemetery, Graham, Alamance County, North Carolina, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://www.alamance-nc.com, https://www.bcar.org.uk