An Ox for a Hero

Dean Hess, a studious lad from Marietta, Ohio, decided that he would rather fight than preach. He was a 23-year-old ordained minister in the Church of the Disciples of Christ when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor; the next day, Hess enlisted as an air cadet. After winning his wings, he taught flying for two years, then went off to the ETO as a fighter pilot, piled up 62 missions and won the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The North Korean invasion last summer found Major Hess in Japan as an information and education official. The pathetic South Korean air force, which had no combat planes, was given ten F51 Mustangs, but could not fly them properly. Dean Hess was rushed to Taegu to become "adviser" to the South Korean flyers. Actually he became their trainer, beloved leader, and most dogged and enthusiastic fighter. They called him "Mister United States."

Other U.S. airmen joined the outfit, and the South Koreans soon learned to fly their Mustangs. Hess found them keen, aggressive, but too tense. He relaxed them by various pranks in the air, such as dangling a lazy leg out of his cockpit and staging mock pistol duels with his wingman. Meanwhile, he was out daily in assaults on the enemy for the U.S. 25th Infantry Division which called him a "one-man air force" and gave him the Army's Silver Star.

Last week Lieut. Colonel Hess (220 missions in the Korean war) and his outfit were honored by President Syngman Rhee and General Kim Chung Yul, commander of the South Korean air force. Rhee gave them a presidential unit citation, and Hess was personally awarded an ox--traditional Korean prize for champion archers and fencers. The prize drew amiable jeers from Hess's compatriots. "Hey, colonel," yelled a tousle-headed pilot from Illinois, "all you need now is half an acre of land and you can settle down here for life!"

Hess grinned, gave the ox to a Korean farmer, and sent off the day's second combat mission -- four F-51s two flown by South Koreans, two by Americans.

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