Gov. Joe Kernan campaigns in Columbus in 2004. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey)
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Monday, August 3, 2023 10:48 AM
By JACK COLWELL
SOUTH BEND - Joe Kernan always celebrated his “Shoot Down Day.” Every May 7.
On May 7, 1972, his Navy plane was shot down while on a reconnaissance flight over North Vietnam. Kernan ejected before the plane crashed. He survived without critical injury, though unconscious on the way down. He was captured, beaten and then held as a prisoner of war for 11 months, much of this in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” prison.
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Kernan once told me it was because the date of the day when freedom was taken away reminded him of the freedom he could now enjoy. Freedom on that date to do exactly what he wanted. He always celebrated with pizza and cold beer at Rocco’s, free from enduring myriad meals of only hated pumpkin soup in Vietnam. “I never forget the 7th of May,” he said. “As often as not I forget about the anniversary of the day I came home.”
With Kernan’s death, his accomplishments after he came home are recalled by governmental leaders from around the state and also by folks around South Bend who knew him personally. He was elected three times as mayor, the governmental job he said he enjoyed the most. He was elected twice as lieutenant governor and became governor with the death of Gov. Frank O’Bannon.
Unlike many politicians, he had no all-consuming desire for elective office. He had to be talked into running for mayor. He said he wouldn’t run for governor when O’Bannon’s second term was to end in 2004. He was displeased with some aspects of Hoosier politics. Even after O’Bannon’s death in 2003 thrust him into the governor’s office, Kernan still initially declined candidacy. He was talked into running, though a late start left him trailing Mitch Daniels, who won.