SPC Anthony Dixon, U.S. Army, died Aug. 1, 2004 in Samarra, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his guard post. SPC Dixon was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and was assigned to the Army’s 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany. Dixon enlisted in the Army after high school graduation in 2002. While stationed in Germany, he met the woman he planned to marry. He deployed to Iraq in February 2004. He was survived by his parents, Jacqueline and Alexander and his four siblings.

“This kid — he’s a hero to me,” SPC Dixon’s brother, Al Dixon, 35, a sheriff’s officer in Essex County N.J. told The Star Ledger.

The Travis Manion Foundation honored SPC Anthony Dixon through the Character Does Matter Program on October 20, 2011, when his story inspired 130 students at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, PA.