2015S0421-1 03/09/15
	By: Fraser	S.C.R. No. 26

	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The Texas Legislative Medal of Honor was established
	to recognize gallant and intrepid service by a member of the state
	or federal military forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Ed Dyess, a
	highly decorated aviator and warrior called "the One-Man Scourge of
	the Japanese" during World War II due to his remarkable adaptive
	ability to fight a relentless, ruthless enemy in the Pacific
	Theater as a combat pilot, infantry commander, prisoner of war, and
	guerrilla, would be a fitting recipient of this prestigious award;
	and
	WHEREAS, Born in Albany, Shackelford County, on August 9,
	1916, William Edwin Dyess exhibited natural leadership skills as
	the student body president at Albany High School and as the class
	president and commander of the R.O.T.C. detachment at John Tarleton
	Agricultural College (now Tarleton State University); a
	distinguished graduate of the flight schools at Randolph Field,
	known as "the West Point of the Air," and Kelly Field in San
	Antonio, Dyess was appointed commanding officer of the 21st Pursuit
	Squadron and deployed to the Philippine Islands in 1941, where he
	would become one of the first Americans to engage the enemy in World
	War II; and
	WHEREAS, During the early phase of the Pacific War, First
	Lieutenant Dyess shot down six enemy planes, actions that would
	have classified him as an "ace" if not for the lack of gun cameras
	and the destruction by American forces of military records to
	prevent them from falling into enemy hands; in late January 1942,
	during an emergency shortage of combat aircraft, Dyess demonstrated
	exceptional skill as a marksman and motivator as he led his
	ill-equipped and inexperienced squadron of airmen in infantry
	combat through the jungles of the Bataan Peninsula during the
	"Battle of the Points"; and
	WHEREAS, On February 8, 1942, Captain Dyess volunteered to
	lead America's first amphibious landing of World War II, at
	Agloloma Bay, to root out two enemy battalions that had entrenched
	themselves with orders from Japanese commanding General Masaharu
	Homma to wreak havoc behind the Filipino-American lines; Dyess was
	the first man ashore, selflessly exposing himself to enemy fire
	while engaging enemy positions with a Lewis machine gun and
	motivating his apprehensive 20-man force to join him; amidst
	exploding bombs, Dyess and his party secured the beachhead using
	automatic weapons and hand grenades and eliminated approximately 75
	heavily armed, elite Japanese troops who had fortified themselves
	in caves; the failure of General Homma's operation allowed American
	forces in the Philippines to hold out a few months longer, trapping
	enemy resources and giving America time to mobilize in the wake of
	the attack on Pearl Harbor; and
	WHEREAS, On March 2, 1942, Dyess led nine pilots flying five
	battered warplanes in a daring raid on the enemy supply depot at
	Subic Bay, Luzon; flying a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk rigged to carry
	500-pound bombs, Dyess braved heavy antiaircraft fire, engaged an
	enemy cruiser, and ultimately destroyed one 12,000-ton transport,
	one 6,000-ton vessel, at least two 100-ton motor launches, and a
	handful of barges and lighters; in order to save face, Radio Tokyo
	reported that 54 bombers and swarms of fighter planes had been
	responsible for the attack; Dyess was presented with the
	Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military
	decoration that can be awarded, for the extraordinary heroism that
	he displayed on this occasion; and
	WHEREAS, Although many officers began to shirk their duties
	and pull rank as the military situation deteriorated, Dyess worked
	hard to boost the morale of his men, cleaning cockpits and flying
	countless reconnaissance, resupply, and evacuation missions; he
	sometimes flew up to 1,400 miles through enemy skies to bring back
	desperately needed medicines and telegrams for his men; and
	WHEREAS, Dyess refused multiple opportunities to leave the
	doomed Bataan Peninsula and endeavored to ensure others were
	evacuated before him; Dyess personally supervised the boarding of
	evacuees on the last flyable aircraft on Bataan; the final seat was
	reserved for Dyess himself, but at the last second he ordered a
	friend onto the plane in his stead; and
	WHEREAS, After the surrender of 75,000 American and Filipino
	troops on Bataan on April 9, 1942, Dyess endured the most horrific
	war crime in the history of the United States, the Bataan Death
	March; Dyess watched as prisoners of war were denied water and
	medical care, beaten, beheaded, whipped, shot, buried alive, run
	over by tanks, and used for bayonet practice; due to his height,
	fair complexion, and status as an officer, Dyess was singled out for
	mistreatment and suffered through savage beatings; despite this,
	Dyess shepherded his men forward, helped the wounded, and noted the
	horrors taking place around him so that he could describe them in a
	firsthand account; for the next six months, Dyess endured
	starvation, disease, interrogation, and torture in two squalid
	prison camps on Luzon, where he continued to encourage and aid his
	fellow prisoners, smuggling food and medicine to those in need; and
	WHEREAS, In November 1942, Captain Dyess arrived at the Davao
	Penal Colony, known as "Dapecol," a reportedly escape-proof prison
	plantation where 2,000 American prisoners of war were being forced
	to work as slave laborers; while at Dapecol, Dyess co-organized a
	team of United States military personnel to execute the only
	large-scale prison break of prisoners of war in the Pacific War;
	Dyess volunteered for the dangerous task of transporting the escape
	party's gear on a bull cart past multiple guard checkpoints; on
	April 4, 1943, the "Davao Dozen," 10 American prisoners of war and
	two Filipino convicts, made their amazing escape through a deep,
	crocodile-infested swamp; after eluding search parties, Dyess
	fought alongside Filipino guerrilla forces behind enemy lines
	before evacuating to Australia in July 1943; he received a
	promotion to major and was personally presented with his second
	Distinguished Service Cross, in the form of a Bronze Oak Leaf
	Cluster, by General MacArthur on July 30, 1943; and
	WHEREAS, Dyess would have enjoyed a hero's welcome had his
	superiors not consigned him to a military hospital in the mountains
	of West Virginia, where he was subjected to secret debriefings by
	government officials; he was sequestered there because the
	government feared that his story, if released to the public, would
	jeopardize the "Europe First" strategic policy and Pacific prisoner
	of war relief efforts of the Allies; despite suffering from
	depression and severe posttraumatic stress disorder, Dyess was
	determined to make his account of the Bataan Death March and other
	atrocities known to the public, and he entered into a publishing
	agreement with the Chicago Tribune; his epic story, trumpeted by
	the War Department as "The Greatest Story of the War in the
	Pacific," was eventually released on January 28, 1944, skillfully
	timed to harness the full fury of America's anger; stagnant war bond
	sales and service enlistment numbers soared as Dyess's revelations
	forced America out of a mid-war complacency; and
	WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Dyess never lived to see his
	remarkable story take hold of America; during a routine flight over
	Los Angeles on December 22, 1943, his P-38 Lightning began to have
	engine trouble; rather than bailing out and letting his plane
	careen into a crowded residential area, Dyess attempted an
	emergency city street landing, but he pulled up at the last moment
	to avoid hitting a motorist who had strayed into his path; while
	attempting to guide his crippled aircraft onto a vacant lot, he
	struck a church and was killed instantly when his plane crashed;
	Dyess was awarded the Soldier's Medal posthumously in recognition
	of a heroic act not involving an armed enemy; Dyess's family
	resisted the public's clamor for his internment at Arlington
	National Cemetery and instead buried him in his beloved home state
	in the Albany Cemetery; to this day, the only public recognition of
	Dyess and his incredible life was the renaming of Abilene Air Force
	Base to Dyess Air Force Base in 1956; and
	WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Ed Dyess risked his life
	repeatedly in defense of his country, and he put the welfare of his
	fellow prisoners of war ahead of his own; he revealed to the
	American people a vital aspect of the war, and he ultimately
	sacrificed his own life to save the life of another; he is most
	assuredly deserving of this state's supreme military award; now,
	therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby direct the governor of the State of Texas to award the Texas
	Legislative Medal of Honor posthumously to Lieutenant Colonel Ed
	Dyess in recognition of his extraordinary military service and
	remarkable succession of valorous acts in World War II.