Dawson, Ezra

Sergeant Ezra Dawson was a soldier with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Hood, Texas. He was 31 years old and from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to military records, his service included deployments to Afghanistan, the Philippines, and the Horn of Africa.

On January 17, 2009, Dawson was killed at Combat Outpost (COP) Vegas in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. The Department of Defense listed the cause as hostile fire. A contemporaneous report from The Oklahoman newspaper stated he died from wounds sustained when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire while on patrol.

Dawson's death occurred during Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan that began in October 2001. By 2009, the conflict was in a period of intense fighting as insurgent forces, including the Taliban, had regrouped and increased the use of improvised explosive devices and direct attacks on coalition outposts in provinces like Kunar.

His death was reported by local media in Oklahoma. He was survived by his wife and children. The Army posthumously awarded him the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart, according to a press release from the 1st Infantry Division.

Sergeant Dawson is memorialized on the Afghanistan War Memorial at the Oklahoma History Center and on online veterans' memorials. His name is inscribed on Panel 35W, Line 79 of the Afghanistan Veterans Memorial Wall in Springfield, Virginia.

Sergeant Dawson was killed during Operation Enduring Freedom (2001?2014). The conflict concluded in December 2014. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.

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