Joe E. Kernan  Joseph Eugene Kernan III (born April 8, 1946) is an American businessman and former politician who served as the 48th Governor of Indiana from 2003 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, Kernan previously served as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and then as the 47th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1997 to 2003. He became governor on September 13, 2003, upon the death of Governor Frank O'Bannon. He lost an election to serve a full term as governor to former Office of Management and Budget director Mitch Daniels on November 2, 2004. Kernan returned to South Bend and retired from politics. To date, he is the most recent Democrat to have served as Governor of Indiana. Joe Eugene Kernan III was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 8, 1946. He is the eldest of nine children. Kernan's father, Joseph E. Kernan Jr., was a naval aviator during World War II and would go on to have a career in government service. His mother, Marian Powers Kernan, held a variety of jobs, including a tenure C&P Telephone, where she worked her way up to a communications representative. As a communications representative she handled The Pentagon's account, and held security clearance. Kernan's family moved to South Bend when he was ten years of age. Kernan graduated from St. Joseph's High School in South Bend in 1964. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a resident of Stanford Hall. Kernan played on the university's baseball team, serving as a walk-on on the freshman team, and playing for the varsity team his sophomore and junior years in 1967 and 1968. He was initially an infielder, later switching to catcher in his junior year. Kernan entered the United States Navy in 1969, and served as a Naval Flight Officer aboard the carrier USS "Kitty Hawk". After he completed Naval Flight Officer training, reconnaissance training, & RA-5C Vigilante Replacement Air Group training, he served with RVAH-7 at Naval Air Station Albany, Georgia, until deploying to Southeast Asia aboard the aircraft carrier from February 1972 until he was shot down by enemy forces while on a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on May 7, 1972. He was held as a prisoner of war for 11 months. For part of his time as a prisoner of war, Kernan was imprisoned Hỏa Lò Prison, however he spent most of his sentence at a nearby prison dubbed "The Zoo".