For Love of Life and Country

For Love of Life and Country details the life of Dean Hunter, encapsulating the impulses, ideas, discoveries, and beliefs that have formed and nurtured Americans over the past five decades. The author’s invincible beliefs, his love of life, and devotion to his country, carry him from the Boy Scouts of America through high school, into the U.S. Marine Corp’s rigorous boot camp training and on into combat in Korea. The book takes him through his twenty-year service as an Air Force pilot; including five years as a fighter pilot in the Southeast Asia conflict. From growing up in a small American town during the trying times of World War II, to serving his country, the experiences related here are humorous, thoughtful, tragic, and joyous. For Love of Life and Country is as American as John Wayne and apple pie.

Dean Hunter, Ed. D. has published many articles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from San Diego State College, a master’s degree in Counseling from Ball State University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Seattle University. In his youth he received an Eagle Scout Badge. He was an associate professor of Aerospace Studies at the University of Puget Sound, and high school teacher and principal. He raced on downhill skies in Europe in the Mediterranean Sports Conference and was later the varsity ski coach for the University of Puget Sound. He was selected as one of the Most Outstanding Vocational Teachers in Washington State, as the Most Outstanding Chapter Advisor in the nation for the Sigma Chi fraternity, and initiated into the Constantine Chapter, the highest honor internationally for Sigma Chi. He served eleven years as a volunteer Deputy Sheriff for Pierce County and has been a docent at the Palm Springs Air Museum for the past 15 years. In 1963 Lt. Colonel Hunter served as a member of the First Air Commando Squadron, and by 1965 was listed as one of the highest decorated young officers for heroism in the United States Air Force. His decorations include the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with “V” Device, seven air medals and thirty-two other medals and awards from foreign nations. He currently lives with his wife of 54 years and has three wonderful children and nine outstanding grandchildren.