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The incredible story of Captain William Dyess

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

In researching the Second World War career of William Dyess, the thought keeps arising: How can this possibly be all the same guy?

Captain Dyess’s abbreviated service in the U.S. Army Air Force and elsewhere was more eventful than any Hollywood script could credibly imagine.

The Texas native volunteered to stay in the Philippines and fight the overwhelming Japanese advance on Bataan, serving both as a fighter pilot and an infantryman; he was taken prisoner and survived the Bataan Death March of April 1942, then endured a year of starvation and brutality in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps before he escaped, joined a Filipino guerilla force and fought in the jungle for three months.

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Wikipedia

The Lion of the First World War

STORY BY PAIGE GILMAR

“He had a lion’s heart,” Constance McKean told The Sunday Post in September 1927.

Constance was none other than the second wife of one of Canada’s most-decorated First World War heroes: George Burdon McKean.

In his four years of military service, George would be awarded the Military Medal, the Victoria Cross and the Military Cross for, as his citations noted, “conspicuous bravery” and “magnificent” conduct.

“Captain George Burdon McKean…was one of the bravest men who fought on any front during the war,” wrote The Sunday Post.

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