Colonel Dean Hess passes

Air Force Colonel Dean Hess, credited with rescuing Korean War orphans and protrayed in the movie “Battle Hymn” by Rock Hudson, passed at 97 years of age recently, according to the Air Force Times;

Hess, an ordained minister, was a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel when he helped arrange evacuation of Korean orphans from their country’s mainland to safety on a coastal island, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. He was a significant figure in Air Force history, and his efforts to help Korean children are a “shining example” of the Air Force’s humanitarian airlift capabilities, museum historian Jeff Underwood said.

“What is less well-known is the instrumental role he played in training the fledgling South Korean Air Force,” Underwood said in a statement.

[…]

The museum said Hess and Lt. Col. Russell Blaisdell, a chaplain, devised a plan to transport hundreds of orphans to refuge on the coastal island as part of Operation Kiddy Car. U.S. planes airlifted the children, and the men arranged food, money and clothing contributions for them, the museum said.

Lawrence Hess said he accompanied his father to South Korea in 1999 and saw Koreans’ respect for him.

“It was like traveling with a rock star,” he said.

Wiki says that airlift was called “The Kiddy Car Airlift” and that he’s credited with rescuing 950 orphans and 80 staff members ahead of the advancing Chinese in December 1950 by arranging transportation in 15 C-54 aircraft to the island Jeju and that by the time the airlift ended more than a thousand orphans were on that island.

Blue skies, Colonel, you earned them.

Category: Air Force, Blue Skies