Kenneth L. Reusser; Daring Fighter Pilot Received 2 Awards of the Navy Cross

Kenneth L. Reusser, a minister's son and motorcycle racer, became a Marine Corps fighter pilot during World War II and earned top decorations for his daring in combat.

He was a captain and division leader in the Pacific when, on May 10, 1945, he engaged in combat against Japanese reconnaissance planes 45,000 feet over Okinawa. Nearly out of ammunition, he decided to ram an enemy plane -- which, done imprecisely, could have resulted in an unintentional kamikaze mission on his part.

With the aid of his wingman, Col. Reusser chased a Japanese Kawasaki "Dragon Killer" for more than 100 miles before managing to butt the rear of the craft three times with his Corsair F4U-4 fighter. The Japanese pilot lost control, and his plane plummeted to earth.

"I set his engine afire and shot up his wing with the rest of my ammunition," Col. Reusser, then 25, told the Associated Press. "It was enough to slow him down."

The encounter earned him the Navy Cross, the highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor. He later retired at the rank of colonel, having flown 253 missions in his career and received a second Navy Cross while serving in the Korean War. Col. Reusser died June 20 in a suburb of Portland, Ore., at age 89. No cause of death was reported.

Kenneth Lyle Reusser was born Jan. 27, 1920, in Cloverdale, Ore., and raised in Portland. A star athlete, he played football and wrestled at the University of Georgia. He used earnings from motorcycle races to pay for college and received a pilot's license before joining the Navy Reserve in 1941.

During the Korean War, then-Maj. Reusser was serving in Marine Fighter Squadron 214, nicknamed the "Black Sheep Squadron," and was a flight leader when he led a strafing attack in August 1950 against what appeared to be a camouflaged enemy factory at the western port city of Inchon. At one point, he dived to investigate the factory at "window level," according to his Navy Cross citation. The heavy antiaircraft and small arms fire caused severe damage to his plane. Believing the building to be a tank and vehicle factory, Col. Reusser limped back to his aircraft carrier.

Armed in another Corsair with napalm and rockets, he returned to the factory and destroyed the building and its contents despite antiaircraft fire, the Navy Cross citation read. He also dived within 10 feet of a camouflaged oil tanker in Inchon harbor, raking the hull with gunfire. He caused an explosion that destroyed the tanker and crippled his plane.

After holding various commands in the 1950s, Col. Reusser became chief of staff to a marine expeditionary brigade during the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965. The next year, he was commanding officer of a Marine aircraft group when he was badly injured in a helicopter crash in Vietnam that killed everyone else aboard. He needed skin grafts on more than 35 percent of his body.

After his military retirement in 1968, he returned to the West Coast and worked in the aircraft and aerospace industry. He lived out of the public eye until 2003, when reports surfaced that he had been swindled in a real estate investment scheme. A series of misfortunes led Col. Reusser and his wife to be evicted from their million-dollar home in Beaverton, Ore.

The Reussers lost about $250,000 in a "high-yield investment they learned about from friends," the Associated Press reported in 2004. A bookkeeper hired by Col. Reusser and his wife reportedly stole more than $80,000 from them by forging their signatures on checks.

The Reussers sued the bank, Washington Mutual, and tried to raise money by selling their home. The bank said it would block the sale unless the Reussers dropped the lawsuit. After a series of heated exchanges between the Reussers and the bank, six armed Washington County, Ore., sheriff's deputies broke down the door to the Reussers' house in March 2004 and ordered them to pack their belongings and leave.

They departed, only to return two weeks later. Col. Reusser changed the locks and told the Washington Times he was prepared for a last stand in his home. "The Washington County Sheriff's Office asked me if I would resist, and I told them, 'I won't cooperate and walk out of the house with you,' " he said. "They might have to carry me out."

It did not come to that, but it was a final act of daring against long odds. Col. Reusser spent his final years living in a nearby apartment. Survivors include his wife, Trudy, and two sons.