Air Station Kodiak Helicopter Pilot Earns Distinguished Flying Cross

The Distinguished Flying Cross is America’s oldest military aviation award and none too easy to earn – it’s only awarded for remarkable acts of heroism.
Hess (left) with Capt. Mark Morin, commanding officer of Air Station Kodiak. ( Photo courtesy of Lauren Steenson, U.S. Coast Guard)
South of Cape Cod, Massachusetts one February morning in 2015, a helicopter team from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod hovered above a fishing vessel stranded in nine foot seas and 40 mph winds wit