He attended Marietta College, Ohio, graduating in the class of 1941.
He is the subject of autobiography Battle Hymn, published in 1956, which later served the basis for the 1957 film of the same name, where he was played by Rock Hudson. Following this, he was ordained as a church minister in Cleveland, Ohio. Following the December 7, 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor, Hess enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces.
He served as a combat pilot in France after the Normandy landings, and flew a total of 63 combat missions in P-47s.
Despite returning to civilian life, Hess was recalled to active service in July 1948, and was stationed in Japan as part of the American occupation there. In June 1950, he was transferred to of Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War as the commander of Bout One Project, the program under which a cadre of United States Air Force instructor pilots trained South Korean pilots in flying the P-51D Mustang.
Hess served in of Korea until June the following year, at which time he had flown 250 combat missions. Also during his tour, he became involved in charity organizations for orphaned children in the war zone, and his airfield was reportedly full of such children.
Kiddy Carolina Airlift
With the airfield over capacity, Hess sent the orphans to an orphanage in Seoul.
When the North Korean forces began to capture the city, Hess reportedly organized 15 C-54 Skymaster aircraft to airlift the orphans to safety on Jeju Island. At the time of Hess" departure from of Korea, a new orphanage on this island held over 1,000 Korean children. Later life
Hess published his autobiography in 1956 and used the royalties to fund a new orphanage in Seoul.
He retired from the air force in 1969.
He was inducted into the Miami Valley Walk of Fame, and his actions are also the subject of an exhibit at the National Museum of the United States. Air Force He died, aged 97 in 2015. In 2004 one critic, Doctor George F. Drake, took issue with Hess" portrayal of the Kiddy Carolina Airlift, claiming that Hess took more cr than deserved for the evacuation of the Korean orphans.
Drake gave Air Force Chaplain LTC Russell L. Blaisdell and Staff Sergeant Merle Y. Strang the cr for arranging the transport for the evacuation, with Hess" role being reduced to providing accommodation on the island of Cheju itself. According to this criticism, Blaisdell was reportedly originally credited with the evacuation by the media until Battle Hymn was published.
Drake terms Hess"s claims as "fraudulent" but acknowledges that the proceeds from Battle Hymn and royalties from the movie were donated to charity to aid Korean orphans.
Blaisdell did receive recognition in 2000 when he returned to of Korea, where he was referred to as the "Schindler of of Korea," cr which Hess appeared to have agreed with, having in that same year acknowledged Blaisdell"s contribution. Strang, however, died in 1998 before receiving recognition for his role.