William “Ed” Dyess, a native Texan, was an officer and pilot active in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The Japanese captured him after the American surrender in the Philippines in April 1942, where he became a prisoner of war (POW).
Dyess was born in 1916 in Albany, Texas. He graduated from John Tarleton Agricultural College, which is now Tarleton State University, in 1936. Upon graduation, he completed flight training through the U.S. Army Air Cadets and commissioned as a second lieutenant.
