First Lieutenant Hess was a doctor with the Medical Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while tending his wounded comrades near Kunu-ri, North Korea, on 30 November 1950. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Hess was awarded Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Medical Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.