Pacific Stars and Stripes,
Dec. 31 1958
SEOUL (UNC/USK/8A)- Texas school
children sent a gift package of clothing recently to a Korean orphanage
founded by an Air Force Colonel to square a debt with his conscience.
The clothes from the students of Waco High School,
went first to Republic of Korea President Syngman Rhee at his presidential
mansion, then to the orphan's home of Korea, founded by Col. Dean
E. Hess.
Col. Hess, in his best-selling biography "Battle
Hymn" related how he accidentally torched a German orphanage in World
War II and was driven by his conscience to the ministry.
He re-entered the Air Force to train fledgling
ROK Fighter Pilots during the Korean conflict, the book related, opened
the orphan's home, and once helped save refugee children caught in
the path of landing communists.
The clothing was taken to the Presidential mansion
at Kyung Mu Dai by Lieutenant Gen. Robert H. Lee, United Nations Command
Chief of staff from Montgomery, AL., and Capt. Robert M. Krone, his
aide, from Las Vegas, NV.
With it was a letter to President Rhee from Miss
Diane Scot Wilson, of the High School's Service Girl's League, telling
how they had chosen the orphanage as a project after hearing Col.
Hess speak at the school.
The orphanage, operated by Mrs. On Soon Whang,
at Chung Yan-ri, is supported by a trust fund, the Christian Children's
Fund, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Col. Hess book.
PSS-617
