Capt. Lawrence Dickson MIA, a Tuskegee Airman, buried 75 yrs after death in WWII.

Capt. Lawrence Everett Dickson (Army Serial Number 12124614 and Service Number O-798945) was classified as MIA for 72 years in Austria. He was an American fighter pilot and a member of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He flew 68 missions in World War II before he was forced to eject from his aircraft late in 1944.

Lawrence Everett Dickson (May 31, 1920 – December 23, 1944) was born to Agnes and Lawrence Eugene Dickson in Society Hill, Darlington, South Carolina. He often went by his middle name, Everett. He grew up with two brothers, Dewitt and Melvin. Dewitt was also a Tuskegee WWII pilot and survived the war.

The Dicksons were in The Bronx, New York by 1930. Everett graduated from high school there and then studied chemistry at City College of New York (at a time when only 35% of Americans graduated from high school). Everett played the guitar early in life and subsequently took an electric guitar with him to Italy. He was clearly a well-educated and talented man.

Everett married Phyllis Constance Maillard in Manhattan, New York, in 1941, when he was 21 years old, and Phyllis was 20. She was the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and went by the nickname “Fifi”. Everett’s occupation was listed as Chemist's Assistant on their marriage certificate.

In 1942, at Harlem's Sydenham Hospital, Everett and Phyllis welcomed a daughter, Marla. Marla and her children were present at Arlington National cemetery for Everett’s full honor burial in 2019.

Military Career

On August 4, 1942, in New York City, Everett enlisted for WWII in the U.S. Army Air Forces and trained at the legendary Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama where he graduated on March 25, 1943 as a 2nd Lt. He was certified in the Single Engine Section - SE-43-C. Tuskegee Airmen's planes had distinctive red bands on the noses as well as a red rudder that led to the name "Red Tails”.

After Tuskegee, Everett was sent to Ramitelli, Italy and assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332d Fighter Group where he flew a single-engine P-51D Mustang

nicknamed “Peggin”. He was promoted to Captain there.

On December 23, 1944, Capt. Dickson headed for Nazi-occupied Prague, Czechoslovakia on his 68th mission. He had already been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. During World War II, the United States Army was segregated and black pilots flew under different rules. The black pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen could not qualify for R&R until they completed 70 missions. White pilots took R&R after 50 missions.

Capt. Dickson led three Mustangs on an escort mission of an unarmed photo reconnaissance plane. According to 2nd Lt. Robert L. Martin, his wingman, an hour into the flight, Capt. Dickson radioed Ramitelli Air Field that he needed to return due to engine trouble. He broke formation and two of his wingmen accompanied him. The trio gradually lost altitude while Capt. Dickson looked for a spot to land or bail out.

The wingmen were forced to take evasive action when Capt. Dickson's plane sputtered and dove. 2nd Lt. Martin reported that the plane crashed as if Capt. Dickson had ejected. Snow complicated the search efforts for Dickson and when he nor the plane was found, Dickson was declared MIA. Originally, 2nd Lt. Martin thought they were in the mountains near Tarvisio, Italy. However, after the war, German records revealed that a P-51 plane crashed near Hohenthurn, Austria on the day that Capt. Dickson disappeared.

An Austrian researcher named Roland Domanig discovered the crash site in the 1950s as a child but did not find remains until 2002. In 2017, a team composed of DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) personnel, professors and students from the University of New Orleans and the University of Innsbruck, and Roland Domanig excavated the site. They recovered bone fragments which later matched Capt. Dickson's daughter's DNA. On July 27, 2018, Dickson's remains were positively identified by the DPAA.

Also recovered at the crash site was a 14-karat ring that was inscribed with: “P.D., a heart with an arrow through it and L.E.D. 5-31-43.” P.D. are Phyllis’s initials, L.E.D. stand for Lawrence Everett Dickson, and May 31, 1943 was his 23rd birthday. Also recovered were a remnant of a harmonica and a small cross. All were sent to the U.S. for further study.

Capt. Dickson’s name is permanently inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery inVia Cassia, Italy.

On February 24, 2019, Brig. Gen. Twanda E. Young said "I stand before you deeply honored and humbled to represent the United States Army, as well as all African-American service members across all military services and those who have long served before me, to commemorate and acknowledge the honorable service rendered by Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson in service to a grateful nation".

The General then presented Capt. Dickson's Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Honorable Service Lapel Button to Capt. Dickson's daughter, Marla.

On March 22, 2019, the Alabama Air National Guard Red Tails performed the Missing Man formation, an aerial salute for a fallen member, for Capt. Lawrence Everett Dickson as his remains were laid to rest during a full military honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. As the jets flew overhead, Capt. Dickson’s daughter and grandchildren along with descendants of 2nd Lt. Martin were in attendance. His daughter, Marla, accepted the American flag that draped his coffin from a kneeling Army Brig. Gen. Young.

1. "Capt Lawrence E. Dickson" https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xe6eEAC Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

2. Rice, Markus. "The Men and Their Airplanes: The Fighters." https://logicalthinker2.tripod.com/Tuskegeeaircraft.html Tuskegee Airmen, 1 March 2000.

3. https://cafriseabove.org/lawrence-e-dickson/ redtail.org. CAF Red Tail Squadron

4. https://smolenyak.medium.com/no-man-left-behind-capt-lawrence-e-dickson-864862074db4 Smolenyak, Megan. "No Man Left Behind: Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson". Medium.com. Medium.

5. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/remains-tuskegee-airman-found-austria-180969787/ Daley, Jason. "Remains of Tuskegee Airman Found in Austria" smithsonianmag.com. Smithsonian Institution.

6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/07/27/pentagon-identifies-tuskegee-airman-missing-from-world-war-ii/ Ruane, Michael E. (June 27, 2018). "Pentagon identifies Tuskegee Airman missing from World War II". The Washington Post.

7. "Tuskegee Airman's funeral reminds daughter of life she might have had". Ruane, Michael E. (March 30, 2019). Salisbury Post.

8. U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S., Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949 ancestry.com

9. https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgdkaWNrc29uEghsYXdyZW5jZQ--/ Burial Detail: Dickson, Lawrence Everett (Section 60, Grave 11831) Interment Date: 03/22/2019

10. https://aaregistry.org/story/lawrence-everett-dickson-born/ Lawrence Everett Dickson, Tuskegee Pilot born

11. https://www.fold3.com/search?keywords=O-798945 Fold3.com

12. https://www.army.mil/article/217779/tuskegee_airman_posthumously_honored_after_decades_mia

13. https://www.dvidshub.net/image/5201120/military-funeral-honors-with-funeral-escort-us-army-air-forces-capt-lawrence-dickson Military Funeral Honors with Funeral Escort for U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. Lawrence Dickson

14. Tuskegee Airmen at Tuskegee University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_University

15. Tuskegee Airmen Archives at the University of California, Riverside Libraries.

16. Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. https://tuskegeeairmen.org

17. Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

18. Tuskegee Airmen National Museum https://www.tuskegeemuseum.org

Lawrence E Dickson