Corporal Lawson was a member of Battery A, 3rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in Korea on 17 December 1950. He was presumed dead on 31 December 1953. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Lawson was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.