Army Specialist Earnest Gene Dawson Jr. entered the service on Aug. 24, 1989. He was assigned to Co. B, 4th Bn, 228th Avn. Regt. in Honduras. On Jan. 2, 1991, he was the crew chief of a UH-1H helicopter that was shot down in eastern El Salvador, near Lolotique, by small arms fire from Marxist Salvadoran guerrillas known as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). The crew were enroute back to Soto Cano Airbase in Honduras after dropping another officer off in San Salvador. The pilot CW4 Daniel Scott died on the controls in the crash landing, but copilot Lt. Col. David Pickett and Private First Class Earnest Dawson both survived, with Dawson being knocked unconscious. Within minutes the rebels captured the two survivors and then shot them to death with small arms. Their remains were recovered and returned to their respective families. The Army posthumously promoted Dawson to Specialist and awarded him the Purple Heart, Prisoner of War and the Armed Forces Expeditionary medals. Dawson was 20 years of age at his death and was survived by a daughter.

On Jan. 16, Camp Blackjack was renamed Camp Pickett in honor of Lt. Col. Pickett, the first 4-228th Aviation Regiment commander; and the small camp gym was named Dawson Gym after Spec. Dawson. Camp Pickett and Dawson Gym remained so until all of the aviation assets and personnel were relocated to the JTF-Bravo cantonment area in 1995.