GREENVILLE, Miss.—The year is 1944. A skilled fighter pilot for the United States is zipping through the unsteady sky, chasing a Nazi fighter jet.
It’s about two weeks after June 6, D-Day. The Allied Forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other global allies—have banded together to invade Normandy and liberate Europe from the strongholds of the Third Reich. Two men. One sky. Both aware of the imminent danger they are in.
Kaboom.
Anse Dees, the fighter pilot for the United States, shoots at the enemy jet from the inside of the P-47 Thunderbolt he is manning. He hits. Returning fire, the German plane strikes back and hits the U.S. Army Air Corps pilot. Assessing the impact of the blow, Dees rolls the burning aircraft over, parachuting over the Cherbourg Peninsula in Nazi-occupied France.
Plummeting from the sky, Dees’ parachute gets caught on a tree limb, and he has to cut himself down and fall to the ground. Once free, the American pilot knows he is in enemy territory and has little time to hide from German soldiers. Frantically, he runs to an empty field and covers himself in a pile of tree limbs.
The German soldiers search all over.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The soldiers step closer and closer to his hiding place, listening for the whisper of Dees’ shallow, hushed breaths. One of the higher-ranking officers directs the others to search.
Unbeknownst to him, he was standing on the exact pile that Dees was hiding in. Motionless. Breathless. Actionless. He waited there for 11 hours even after the Nazi soldiers left the area.
Avoiding captivity for five days after being shot down with a wounded arm, Dees was finally able to find a nearby Allied base and receive the care he needed with the help of a young French boy and his family.
The Philadelphia, Mississippi, native returned to the United States a hero, receiving several awards between 1944 and 1945, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal Award with 10 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart. His escape tactics are still used in military training today.
Now, Dees’ legacy is being memorialized in Greenville, the Mississippi Delta port city he returned to and served until his death in 2009. He is now the namesake of Greenville’s new U.S. 82 bypass—a project he helped make happen.
‘More Than Pavement and Bridges’
Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons, along with several city, state and national officials, held a ribbon-cutting and memorial dedication ceremony on Aug. 27 to celebrate the completion of the 16-mile-long Anse Dees Memorial Bypass. Several members of Dees’ family joined the event, including his son, A.J. “Buddy” Dees, Jr.
The $216 million dollar endeavor provides express travel and economic opportunity for Greenville and the surrounding Delta area, officials say.
Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons is elated about the new development for the city.
“The U.S. 82 Greenville Bypass is more than pavement and bridges. …With the $216 million investment, we are not only reducing travel times, we are creating jobs, boosting commerce, and positioning Greenville as a gateway for economic development in the Delta,” he said.
Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons expressed his excitement to complete the bypass during his time at the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“This is a historical event, completing a project that started over 20 years ago, that was very much needed here in the Mississippi Delta. … It was one of my priorities. To be able to have a goal and (complete it) within five years—it’s amazing. I’m excited,” Simmons said.
U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat whose 2nd Congressional District includes the Delta, said there is “no reason why industry can’t come to the Delta now.”
“We have a good highway, an airport at Greenville, a railroad and a river. So there are no excuses—and we have power,” he said.
A Heart for Highways
After returning from World War II, Anse Dees spent the rest of his life in Greenville and participated in many civic groups throughout the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Kiwanis Club, the YMCA and the Greenville Propeller Club.
He was an active voice in the industrial and transportation sectors of Greenville and held high-ranking positions in organizations such as the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Highway 82 Improvement Committee, and the Delta Council Transportation Committee.
The World War II veteran retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1978 and dedicated his life to helping bring better roads and highways to Greenville.
His advocacy for economic development and mobility in the Mississippi Delta persuaded legislators to include the Mississippi Delta in the 1987 Advocating Highways for Economic Advancement and Development Program—an initiative set in place to expand transportation and economic growth through a four-lane highway and funded through a gas tax.
Working closely with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Dees’ dream for Greenville would come to fruition several decades later.
“It’s a tremendous, fitting tribute to Anse Dees because he traveled the state for a number of years trying to get (the highway) four-laned across the state,” A.J. Dees, Jr. told the Mississippi Free Press in an interview on Sept. 10, 2025. “He was just a tireless advocate for transportation. The family appreciates the memorial bypass being named for him.”