Jul 01 2009
RIP Colonel Kenneth Reusser, USMC Two Time Navy Cross Recipient
Colonel Kenneth Reusser was one of the most highly decorated pilots in Marine Corps history. He died peacefully at home in Oregon at the age of 89. Colonel Reusser’s life and accomplishments were the stuff legends are made of.
Reusser was awarded 59 medals during his career, including two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts and two Legions of Merit. He retired from the service a colonel, The Associated Press and Oregon media reported.
He was shot down five times during 259 combat missions in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam — at least once in each conflict.
In 1950, Reusser led an attack on a North Korean factory. Despite heavy anti-aircraft fire, he dipped down to window level of the facility and saw that it was being used to repair enemy tanks, according to the citation for his second Navy Cross.
He flew to his aircraft carrier to re-arm with rockets and napalm and then returned to destroy the facility, again braving the anti-aircraft fire.
Reusser’s plane had been damaged and his heavy ordnance was gone, but before returning from the mission, he flew low and pumped his machine guns into a North Korean oil tanker, the citation said. (Source: Stars & Stripes)
The colonel’s career spanned three wars. First he served in the Pacific during WWII, then he saw combat in Korea and finally ended his career with Vietnam.
1950: He’s a major now, still flying the Corsair, but in a different war, leading a division from the famous “Black Sheep,” flying over Inchon, Korea, from the deck of USS Sicily.
Reusser leads an attack against a North Korean vehicle park and factory, but the ferocity of the defense arouses his suspicions.
According to “Leatherneck Magazine,” he “set his Corsair snarling past the large factory building barely above the ground and close enough to actually look in the windows.” It was packed with Soviet-made tanks.
He flies to the Sicily to rearm and refuel, then returns, setting the factory ablaze with rockets and napalm.
He leads a low-level strike on oil storage tanks until all of his rockets and napalm are gone, then sets his sights on a camouflaged oil tanker at Inchon harbor, diving to mast height and raking the tanker with 20 mm gunfire. The tanker explodes, almost blowing Reusser’s Corsair out of the air. (Source: The Oregonian)
During the Vietnam war Colonel Reusser flew helicopters. Rest in peace Colonel Reusser, this nation owes you a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid.
