Hess rescued war orphans

Dayton Daily News

— Dean E. Hess, an ordained minister turned Air Force fighter pilot whose role in helping save the lives of hundreds of orphans in the Korean

Huber Heights, Ohio War was immortalized in a Hollywood film, died last week. He was 97.

Rock Hudson played Hess in the 1957 film “Battle Hymn,” based on the autobiographical book of the same name that Hess wrote. Hess agreed to the film and book deal in the 1950s because proceeds went to build an orphanage in Korea.

In the winter of1950, then Lt. Col. Hess devised a plan with Lt. Col. Russell L. Blaisdell, a chaplain, to bring orphans from the Korean mainland to the coastal island of Cheju-do as part of “Operation Kiddy Car,” according to an Air Force historical narrative.

Theorphansfacedacrisisas communist forces pushed in from North Korea, fought through the lines of U.N. troops and threatened to take over the South Korean capital city of Seoul. “Misery resulting from the Communist onslaught touched uponmillions all along the peninsula, but upon the little ones most harshly,” Hess wrote in his book.

He raised money, food and clothing for the relief effort and made arrangements to receive the orphans on the island as15 C-54 transports and a C-47 cargo plane evacuated nearly 1,000 children, the Air Force and his book noted. He used the donations to start an orphanage on Cheju-do.

Hess, who flew 250 combat missions in Korea and flew 63 missions in Europe in World War II, also had a lead role in training Korean pilots during the war.