During World War II various military installations were constructed all over the United States. Texas was especially important in aviation training due to its wide open spaces and moderate weather conditions. One such Texas facility was Camp Barkley outside Abilene. Tye Army Airfield, an adjunct of Barkley, was used to train pilots for the Thunderbolt fighter planes. At the end of the War, both Barkley and Tye were closed by the federal government, but the city of Abilene acquired the 1,500 acres that comprised the two facilities for $1 to use as a training site for the Texas State National Guard.
With the outbreak of the Korean conflict in 1950, city leaders of Abilene pushed for the creation of a permanent military installation. With 1,500 acres already in hand, they besieged federal authorities in Washington to support such a move. The city of Abilene raised $893,000 to purchase an additional 3,500 acres adjoining the original property. Senator Lyndon Johnson and Congressman Omar Burleson championed an appropriation measure for $32 million for construction of an airbase on the site. Official groundbreaking ceremonies took place Sept. 24, 1953, and construction moved at a rapid pace. The red brick ranch style architecture at the base is distinctively Texas.
Originally the facility was called Abilene Air Force Base and was dedicated on April 15, 1956, which was the city’s jubilee year. The name was officially changed to Dyess Air Force Base in 1956 in honor of Lt. Col. William E. Dyess. Born in the nearby community of Albany in 1916, Dyess fell in love with airplanes when he took his first ride in a barnstorming plane in 1920. After graduating from Albany High School, Dyess enrolled at John Tarleton College at Stephenville, but he left school to become a flying cadet at Randolph Field in San Antonio.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941, Dyess was already in uniform stationed in the Philippines flying P-40s. As the war progressed, Dyess and his unit were pinned down by Japanese forces, at which point he assumed the role of an infantry commander, leading his men in ground assaults against the enemy. Despite gallant efforts by Dyess and his men, they were taken prisoners and became part of the infamous Bataan Death March. He escaped from a POW camp and with fellow Americans and Filipinos waged a guerilla war against the Japanese. He eventually worked his way to Australia and from there back to the United States.
While preparing to return to combat in December of 1943, the training plane Dyess was flying over Burbank, Calif. caught fire. Rather than parachute to safety, Dyess stayed with the aircraft, guiding it to a vacant field away from population centers. Dyess lost his life at the age of 27 when the plane crashed. His memory lives on at the Abilene airbase that bears his name.
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Dr. Tommy Stringer is executive director of the Navarro College Foundation. He may be reached by e-mail at tommy.stringer@navarrocollege.edu.
