William E. Dyess

William Edwin Dyess
1943
Nickname(s)Ed
Born(1916-08-09)August 9, 1916
Albany, Texas, US
DiedDecember 22, 1943(1943-12-22) (aged 27)
Burbank, California, US
Buried
Albany Cemetery
Albany, Texas
AllegianceUnited States
BranchU.S. Army Air Corps
U.S. Army Air Forces
Years of service1937–1943
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Unit24th Pursuit Group
329th Fighter Group
Commands21st Pursuit Squadron
Battles / warsWorld War II
  Battle of Bataan
Awards

William Edwin Dyess (August 9, 1916 – December 22, 1943) was an officer of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He was captured after the Allied loss at the Battle of Bataan and endured the subsequent Bataan Death March. After a year in captivity, Dyess escaped and spent three months on the run before being evacuated from the Philippines by a U.S. submarine. Once back in the U.S., he recounted the story of his capture and imprisonment, providing the first widely published eye-witness account of the brutality of the death march. He returned to duty in the Army Air Forces, but was killed in a training accident months later.