Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
Albany, Shackelford County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(August 9, 1916 – December 22, 1943) A native of Albany, and a graduate of Albany High School and John Tarleton Agricultural College, William Edwin Dyess was the son of Judge Richard T. and Hallie Graham Dyess. Trained as a pilot at Randolph Field, San Antonio, he led the 21st Pursuit Squadron of P-40s in the Phillipines, where he was when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the U.S. entered World War II. Dyess' actions against invading Japanese forces at Subic Bay, despite few operational planes, and his later role as infantry commander earned him a reputation for bravery and resourcefulness. Dyess was among the men captured at the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 and forced into the grueling Death March. He survived the malnutrition, disease and torture that resulted in the loss of thousands of his comrades. Almost a year after their capture he and 11 other men escaped and made their way to safety through hostile territory. Dyess reported to the U.S. War Department and Gen. Douglas MacArthur on enemy actions. Through his personal accounts of Japanese atrocities in the Chicago Tribune, he influences world opinion on wartime brutalities. Promoted to Lt. Colonel, Dyess returned to Albany in November 1943 after recuperation and made an appearance at the football field on his way to California. Weeks later, he died when the P-38 he piloted crashed at Burbank. His body was returned to his hometown for burial. His wife, Marajen, published The Dyess Story (1944), a book of his accounts, and Albany playwright Robert E. Nail, Jr., wrote Men of Bataan (1943), an acclaimed play based on his exploits. Dyess Air Force Base at Abilene was named in honor of Albany's much-decorated war hero in 1956. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
His published testimony forced Americans to reckon with the treatment of POWs in the Pacific, and his name endures on Dyess Air Force Base — a hometown boy who became a national touchstone of wartime sacrifice.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
William Edwin Dyess came of age in Albany, the seat of Shackelford County, in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when ranch country towns were weathering hard economic years. He was the son of Judge Richard T. Dyess and Hallie Graham Dyess, and he went on to John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, a school that drew many young people from rural Texas.
Those were also the years when the United States began, slowly at first, to build up its air power. San Antonio's Randolph Field became a center for training military pilots, and young Texans with a taste for flying found a path there. By 1941 American squadrons were stationed in the Philippines, then an American territory, as tensions with Japan rose.
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the United States entered World War II, the Philippines came under attack almost at once. American and Filipino forces were badly outmatched and had little chance of reinforcement. They fought a long delaying action on the Bataan Peninsula, holding on until April 9, 1942, when Bataan fell.
People & events
Dyess trained as a pilot at Randolph Field and was leading the 21st Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, in the Philippines when war came. Japanese attacks quickly destroyed much of the American air strength there, but Dyess kept fighting with the few planes he had left, including attacks against Japanese forces at Subic Bay. When the aircraft were gone, he took command of troops on the ground. He earned a reputation for bravery and resourcefulness.
He was captured when Bataan fell and forced onto the Death March. He survived the hunger, disease and torture that killed thousands of his fellow prisoners. Almost a year after his capture, he and eleven other men escaped and made their way through hostile territory to safety. He reported what he had witnessed to the War Department and to General Douglas MacArthur. His accounts of Japanese atrocities in the Chicago Tribune shaped how the world saw the brutality of the war.
Promoted to lieutenant colonel, Dyess came home to Albany in November 1943 after recovering, and appeared at the football field on his way to California. Weeks later he died when the P-38 he was piloting crashed at Burbank, and he was brought home to Albany for burial. His story outlived him. His wife, Marajen, published his accounts as The Dyess Story in 1944. Albany playwright Robert E. Nail, Jr., wrote Men of Bataan in 1943, a well-received play based on his experiences. In 1956 the air base at Abilene was renamed Dyess Air Force Base in his honor.
Its place in the American story
Dyess stands at the meeting point of two big wartime stories: the desperate early defense of the Philippines, and the American public's slow discovery of how prisoners in the Pacific were being treated. He fought in the first and became a leading witness to the second.
His testimony mattered because it came from someone with credibility, a decorated officer who had briefed the War Department and MacArthur himself. Once his accounts appeared in a major newspaper, Americans could no longer treat reports of mistreatment as rumor. That changed public feeling about the war and about the men still held in the camps.
The ways his story was retold also matter: a book by his wife, a play by a hometown writer, and a military base named for him. Together they show how communities and families turned one person's ordeal into lasting public memory, so that a small Texas town's son became a national symbol of courage and sacrifice.
If you visit
This marker is in Albany, Dyess's hometown and the place where he was laid to rest. Visiting it here, among the streets he knew, links his worldwide wartime experience to its very local beginning: a judge's son, a hometown school, and a football field where people gathered to welcome him back.
As you read the marker, notice how many other people turn up in his story: his parents, his wife Marajen, playwright Robert E. Nail, Jr. Taken together, they show how a whole community carried his memory forward.
Albany is an inviting small town for a slow afternoon, with historic buildings around its courthouse square. Pair this stop with a drive to Abilene, where the air base named for him still operates, to follow his story from beginning to end.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · William Edwin Dyess
- · Marajen Dyess
- · Robert E. Nail, Jr.
- · Douglas MacArthur
Related events
- · Bataan Death March
- · Fall of Bataan
- · Attack on Pearl Harbor
Themes & tags
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Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
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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.