Dean was raised in Lyndon, Kansas and graduated from high school in Raytown, Missouri, during 1939. He enlisted in the Army during February 1941 and was sent during May of 1941 to the Philippines as part of the 345 Coast Artillery Corps and later assigned to the 808th Military Police Company. He was stationed on Corregidor and Baton and became a prisoner of war and interned in the Philippines Military Prison Camp No. 1-Cabanatuan. He was lost at sea aboard a Japanese prison transport ship the Arisan Maru in the Southwest Pacific area on October 24, 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart for military merit and wounds received in action that resulted in his death on October 24, 1944.