Herman Albert "Ace" Lawson (December 24, 1916 – May 9, 1995) was a former Sacramento, California city councilman, Fresno State University football standout, highly decorated U.S. Army Air Force/U.S.

[5] In the late 1930s after a year in the Civilian Conservation Corp, Lawson attended Fresno State University, one of three African American students there at the time.

[5] While a student at Fresno State University, Lawson and a group of friends attended an interview event with the U.S. Army Air Corps.

[6] After receiving an U.S. Army Air Corps flight school acceptance letter in the U.S. mails, Lawson rushed to a local train station en route to Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, abandoning his car storing $1,000 worth of camera equipment in its trunk.

[3][4] Using P-40s, P-47s, and P-51s, Lawson flew 133 missions in World War II's European Theater including Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.

[12] One of Lawson's squadron pilots, Flight Officer Leonard R. Willette, radioed that he needed to bail from his aircraft as a result of low oil pressure.

District 2, located in the northeastern area of Sacramento, included the neighborhoods of Arden Fair, Ben Ali, Cannon Industrial Park, Del Paso Heights, Erikson Industrial Park, Glenwood Meadows, Hagginwood, Noralto, North Sacramento, Parker Homes, Robla, Strawberry Manor, Swanston Estates, Woodlake, Youngs Heights.