Michael Kenneth Leroy Dixon was born in Potter, Texas on June 24th, 1949. He was the son of Mrs. Joyce Weber and William T. Dixon Jr. He graduated from West High School (Torrance) in 1967 and had completed a year of study at El Camino College.

While at West High, he was active in speech and drama and participated in a number of productions such as “Arrowheads.” He was also active in local theater groups and the writing guild.

Michael Dixon entered the Army on September 24, 1968. His unit, A Company, 2nd BN, 3rd Infantry, 199th Infantry BDE, USARV United States Army Vietnam, left Oakland on March 25, 1969. The unit was sent to Long An Province of the Republic of South Vietnam.

On May 21, 1969, Private First Class Michael Dixon was killed instantly by multi-fragment wounds when a hostile force was encountered on a combat operation. This occurred on the south bank of the Vam Co Dong River, 2 KM W-NW of Ben Luc.

PFC Dixon received the Purple Heart, and his Home of Record is listed as Torrance. His photograph was included in the June 29, 1969 issue of LIFE Magazine which had the cover title of “The Faces of the American Dead in Vietnam, One Week’s Toll.”

He was survived by his mother who lived in Hawthorne, California and his father who was in Boulder, Colorado. He was also survived by his brother Stephen Dixon, and his grandparents Mr. and Mrs. William Dixon Sr. of Texas. His is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cypress, Orange County, California.