In 1941:The America’s first amphibious landing of World War II.

In 1941:The America’s first amphibious landing of World War II.

One of my favorite things about Chris was his humility.  It was never about Chris.  He was the silent warrior in the background with sunglasses and hat on and in the back of almost every picture. 

 Even with his book, American Sniper, he wrote the book only because others were going to write it about him and he wanted to make sure his book was about the heroism of those he served with.  

He shied away from the limelight, but when forced into it, handled it with humility and grace.  Even when stones were thrown at him, he smiled and carried on being the Chris we all know and love. 

It was for all of these reasons, I want to thank Governor Abbott for not hesitating even a heartbeat in allowing all veterans in attendance to stand with me to accept Chris's medal. I couldn't in good conscience st

and to accept an award that wasn't and isn't about me. 

 In my opinion, the brief ceremony was about the men who earned the Medals, Chris and Lieutenant William Edwin Dyess. 

The warriors who stood to accept the medal yesterday were those who went before and stood beside these warriors to carry out whatever their country asked of them.  

I believe Chris would have been humbled to even have been considered for the Texas Medal of Honor and to receive it along with Lt. Col. Dyess would have likely been even more humbling for him.

 I am including Lt. Col. Dyess's accomplishments here for all of you to read. I know you have patriotic hearts and while you know Chris's story, you will likely love and respect Lt. Col. Dyess as well. 

Thank you State Representative John Wray, Senator Brian Birdwell and others in the Texas State Legislature along with Governor Abbott, for taking the time and effort out of your busy schedules and surely overwhelming responsibilities to remember and honor these brave men. 

God Bless You all on this page and God Bless your patriotic hearts.

Micah 6:8L T. COLONEL WILLIAM EDWIN DYESS

One of our country’s greatest, yet least-known World War II heroes, Lt. Col. William Edwin Dyess, is known as the “One-Man Scourge of the Japanese” because of his incomparable individual acts of heroism as a pilot, infantryman.

 Marine, prisoner of war and guerrilla fighter versus Imperial Japanese forces in the Philippines, deserves the Medal of Honor due to a staggering series of heroic exploits during a sustained period of remarkable, selfless service from 1941 through 1943 that is unparalleled in the annals of our nation’s proud military history.

Dyess led the earliest charge against Japanese aggression in aerial combat with the U.S. Army Air Forces over Luzon, Philippine Islands in December 1941.

 America’s first amphibious landing of World War II at Agloloma Bay on Bataan in February 1942 (for which he received the Army’s second-highest medal for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross), an audacious air raid on the heavily-defended Japanese base at Subic Bay in March 1942.

 (Distinguished Flying Cross), and the only successful large-scale Allied POW escape of the Pacific war, called the “Greatest Story of the war in the Pacific” by the U.S. War Department in 1944 (2nd DSC). 

 Dyess could have received the Medal of Honor for each of these heroic actions, but did not.  He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel at the young age of 27. 

But the extent of Dyess’s heroism cannot be measured exclusively by his battlefield bravery. 

 Despite suffering from exhaustion, malnutrition and disease, Dyess flew countless evacuation, reconnaissance and resupply missions from the time period January-April 1942. 

 Near the end of the Battle for Bataan, when food was scarce, the pilot refused to accept special flight rations – as ordered by his superiors – without first receiving permission from his enlisted personnel.  He refused several opportunities to evacuate Bataan before the surrender and instead ordered others to go in his place.  

As a prisoner of war, Dyess remained conspicuously in command, presenting himself as a target for abuse during the infamous Bataan Death March to deflect attention from his men as well as sick and wounded comrades. 

 In prison camps, he employed his innate leadership skills and charisma, engaged in morale-building activities and endeavored to secure food and medical supplies in order to improve the living conditions of his fellow prisoners, in the process depriving himself of these essential items. 

When Dyess returned to the U.S. following his escape, he was not afforded a hero’s homecoming.  

Instead, while suffering from what had yet to be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he was muzzled by the U.S. Government and threatened with the loss of his career and criminal proceedings, compounding feelings of survivor’s guilt and causing severe emotional distress from his perceived inability to help his comrades in captivity.

 In what would be his last, and perhaps greatest mission, Dyess partnered with the Chicago Tribune in a top secret fight against the government and wartime censorship restrictions to break the news of Japanese atrocities to the world. 

 Dyess never lived to know that his collective efforts changed the course of World War II.  

During a routine flight over Burbank, California On 22 December 1943, Dyess’s P-38 Lightning fighter plane began experiencing engine trouble.  

Rather than bail out and let his aircraft careen into a heavily-crowded residential area or war plant, Dyess attempted an emergency landing on an empty street.  At the last moment, a lone car appeared, forcing Dyess to pull up and abort the landing.  

The choice to save the unknown motorist’s life essentially cost Dyess his.  Though rapidly losing altitude, he miraculously crashed the plane into a vacant lot and was killed instantly.