Earnest Gene Dawson, Jr. was born on November 4, 1970, in Stuttgart, Arkansas. He was an engineer of a UH-1H helicopter that was shot down in eastern El Salvador, near Lolotique, on January 2, 1991. Around 2:15 p.m., his crew was making its way to Honduras when they were shot down by the FMLN using a surface-to-air missile. CW4 Daniel Scott was killed in the attack, but two other servicemen, Lieutenant Colonel David Pickett (copilot) and Corporal Earnest Dawson (the engineer) managed to survive.

FMLN militants stole all the equipment from the helicopter and ordered locals to relocate the officers as the aircraft would be set on fire. A farmer told the United Press International that he had left for an hour to get water for the survivors, but they were already dead by the time he came back.

An autopsy by an American forensic team found that Pickett and Dawson had been murdered by the guerillas, each with gunshot wounds in the head.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, en.wikipedia.org