Rank: Sergeant
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 14-Nov-1945
Hometown: Northfield, Vermont
Marital status: Married to Felicia Dickinson
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 12-Jan-1963
Start of tour: 1-Dec-1966
Incident date: 21-May-1967
Date of casualty: 21-May-1967
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Eugene Harold Dickinson was passenger in a military vehicle on convoy escort mission when engaged by hostile force.
Seventeen Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP5 William Phillip Centers Jr
SGT Eugene Harold Dickinson
PVT Jerry Lee Houser
SP4 Toler Lee Hutchins Jr
SP4 Phillip Earl Ireland
SSG James Albert Jackson
SGT Alfred Lee
PFC Patrick Michael Loisel
SP4 Henry David McInnis
SP4 James David McWhorter
SP4 Anthony Wilfred Roybal
PFC Rodolfo Andres Saenz
SSG Walter Stephen Simpson
PFC William Charles Stanley
SP4 James Thomas Steighner
SP4 Dwight Elmer Timberlake
SP4 Larry Allen Williamson
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam, YT 564 054
Place of interment: Roxbury Cemetery, Roxbury, Vermont, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SERGEANT EUGENE HAROLD DICKINSON
21 MAY 1967
K TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant Dickinson distinguished himself by valorous actions on 21 May 1967, while serving as Vehicle Commander of an Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle during a fierce encounter with the enemy on Route 1 near Soui Cat, Vietnam. As the armored convoy moved down a narrow road bordered on both sides with brush and slight vegetation, it suddenly came under a murderous volume of recoilless rifle and automatic weapons fire from a well-entrenched, numerically superior Viet Cong force. Without regard for personal safety and fully realizing the perils of the situation, Sergeant Dickinson maneuvered his vehicle into a battle position and directed his men in engaging the enemy. Realizing the danger of further attack, Sergeant Dickinson dismounted his vehicle and took up fire position that prevented the enemy from advancing on two disabled vehicles. Although exposed to a torrent of hostile fire, Sergeant Dickinson held his tactical position and repelled the repeated Viet Cong attacks with effective fire from his personal weapon until he was struck by a enemy round and mortally wounded. Sergeant Dickinson’s personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 1934 (27 June 1967)