Joe Kernan, former South Bend mayor and Indiana governor, dies at 74

SOUTH BEND — Joe Kernan, a former South Bend mayor and Indiana governor who was a dominant force in state politics and local causes for years, died early Wednesday morning.

Kernan, 74, who had battled Alzheimer’s, died at 5:30 a.m., according to a release from his former gubernatorial chief of staff, Mary Downes.

“Distinguished isn’t a strong enough word to describe him. Without regard for personal cost, Joe Kernan devoted every ounce of his life, time and again, to upholding the oath he took, and serving the country and state he loved Indiana," Gov. Eric Holcomb said in the release. "Through his decades of servant leadership and sacrifice, Joe modeled all the best of what it means to be a Hoosier and his legacy will continue to live on in each of us whom he inspired."

Kernan enlisted in the Navy in the spring of 1969 during the Vietnam War, following the footsteps of his father, also a Navy man. He and and a co-pilot were shot down while on a reconnaissance mission in 1972. He spent 11 months as a POW in Hanoi. The day another prisoner told him he had been presumed dead was his worst day, Kernan would later say in interviews.

https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/joe-kernan-former-south-bend-mayor-and-indiana-governor-dies-at-74/article_848c344c-d192-11ea-ab45-df397c6be4af.html