John W. Dawson was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He and his family moved to Dickson, Tennessee when he was very young, spending time in Arkansas, Colorado, and Texas on his way to adulthood. In May of 1987, he made the decision to serve this great nation and enlisted in the United States Army as a helicopter repair technician, working on the venerable AH-1 Cobra. After graduating AIT, he moved to Fort Drum, NY in January of 1988.

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       In February of 1990, he was transferred to South Korea and stationed at Camp Humphreys, near the South Korean city of Pyongtaek. John’s dedication and strong work ethic were quickly noticed, and he rose through the ranks, being selected to be a project leader for a comprehensive upgrade of the AH-1 helicopters across the Korean peninsula. In July of 1990, he met his wife, Kyong, and they were married in December. A year later, they had a son. In 1992, having cross-trained onto several different rotary platforms, John, Kyong and their son moved back stateside, first stopping in Fort Lewis, WA for a brief time, and then on to Fort Carson, CO, where they added a beautiful daughter to their family. He deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia in January of 1994 as a crew chief for Black Hawk helicopters.

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       In 1997, John once again returned to Korea, where he was assigned to a Medevac flight. In addition to his maintenance knowledge, he served both as a crew chief and a flight line supervisor for 15 aircraft. He did an additional tour in Korea and ultimately ended up back home in Tennessee at Fort Campbell, where he retired in 2007 after 20 years of service. After his transition to civilian life, he began a career in civilian aviation, serving as a technical analyst for military airframes, and then as a technical instructor, culminating with a position as Program Manager for airframe weapons systems.

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       Throughout his time following retirement, he’s raised two wonderful kids, been a great husband, and has served the community through the Disabled American Veteran’s society and through his church.

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       John and Kyong are about to celebrate their 32nd anniversary and are both very active in the church and the community. John is the Montgomery County Republican Chairman (currently relinquished during the election), served as Montgomery County Republican Executive Board Member, Past Disabled American Veteran (DAV 45) Commander and both he and Kyong are committed to serving the people here in Clarksville for many years to come.