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Monday, December 5, 2005
One accident victim identified
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spc. Philip Allan Dodson Jr., a member of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team, was among three brigade members who died Friday in Iraq in a vehicle accident, his father, Phil Dodson Sr., said Sunday.
Dodson, 42, was from Forsyth, Ga. He leaves a wife, Melissa, and a daughter, Allison, who turned 16 in August — the last time her father was home for a two-week visit.
The Army only told the family that Dodson died when the Humvee he was in overturned near Ali Air Base in the southern Dhi Quar province, Dodson’s father said. He added he didn’t know whether his son was on a combat mission when he died.
Dodson was responsible for repairing generators, but he had volunteered to be a machine gunner on convoys three days a week, according to his father.
“My son was a very gung-ho person,” Dodson Sr. said. “He would get up on his foot locker to recite the soldiers’ creed and wake up the young guys.”
