Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
Albany, Shackelford County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Aug. 9, 1916 - Dec. 22, 1943) A graduate of Albany High School, William Edwin Dyess was an aviation and infantry commander in the Phillipines during World War II. Captured at the fall of Bataan in 1942, he survived the Death March and escaped his captors a year later. Back in the U.S., his published accounts of enemy actions toward prisoners of war greatly aided the war effort and influenced world opinion. In November 1943, he made an appearance at the Albany football field on his way to California, where he died in a plane crash just weeks later. Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene is named for the much-decorated war hero. Recorded - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Albany High School graduate William Edwin Dyess became one of the Pacific war's most consequential survivors. Captured when Bataan fell in 1942, he endured the Death March, escaped his captors a year later, and then did something rarer still — his firsthand published accounts of prisoner abuse reached the American public and shaped how the world understood the war in the Pacific. He died in a stateside P-38 crash weeks after a hero's visit to his hometown football field in 1943.
Why it matters
Dyess turned personal survival into public testimony, and Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene keeps a small-town Texan's wartime courage in the national memory.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Edwin Dyess
Related events
- · Bataan Death March
- · Fall of Bataan
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
Albany, TX
Albany-born and Tarleton-educated, William Edwin Dyess trained as a pilot at Randolph Field and was leading the 21st Pursuit Squadron of P-40s in the Philippines when Japan struck in December 1941. His stubborn attacks at Subic Bay with almost no aircraft, his ordeal on the Bataan Death March, and his daring escape a year later made him a symbol of resistance. His Chicago Tribune accounts of Japanese atrocities altered world opinion, and his story inspired a book and an acclaimed play before his death in a 1943 crash.
Arledge Field
Stamford, TX
As the United States braced for World War II, General Henry 'Hap' Arnold turned to civilian flight schools to give air cadets their first training, and the City of Stamford bought a slice of the old SMS Ranch to build Arledge Field, named for the businessman who led the effort. Dedicated in May 1941, the field trained cadets in Stearman PT-17 and Fairchild PT-19A biplanes under civilian instructors until the final class graduated in September 1944. After the war the buildings became Stamford's public airport.
45th Infantry Division at Camp Barkeley
Abilene, TX
The 45th Infantry Division — the 'Thunderbirds,' drawn from National Guard units in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma — was among the first divisions called into federal service in 1940 and relocated to Camp Barkeley near Abilene in early 1941. Finding the camp little more than a tent city on undrained prairie, the soldiers nicknamed it 'Camp Smokey Okie' and trained hard before shipping out through North Africa to Europe. Across 511 days of combat in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany they earned eight Medals of Honor and helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945; the division was recalled for the Korean War, where it suffered further heavy losses.
Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
Abilene, TX
This Abilene marker traces the arc of Albany native William Edwin Dyess from aviation cadet at Randolph Field to squadron commander in the Philippines, where he fought on despite crippling losses of aircraft. Taken prisoner at the fall of Bataan in 1942, he survived the Death March and prison camps, then escaped with eleven others in 1943 — reaching Australia by guerrilla contact and submarine. His accounts in the Chicago Tribune exposed conditions in Japanese camps before he died flying a new P-38 over Burbank late that year.