Joseph Corcoran

Joseph Corcoran Was Veteran of 3 Wars, Former State Senator

Joseph Corcoran passed away Oct. 9, 1999.

Mr. Corcoran had worked in investments and consulting, owned and operated a restaurant and worked as an industrial developer.

A Republican, Mr. Corcoran was an Indiana state senator representing District 44 from 1980 to 1992.

While serving in the Senate, he authored a bill calling for English to be the official language of Indiana and worked on hazardous waste issues.

Mr. Corcoran served 26 years in the Army Air Forces and the Air Force, including service during World War II and in Korea and Vietnam. A military intelligence officer for 18 years, he retired as a lieutenant colonel.

He was president of the 376 Heavy Bomb Group and a member of the Retired Officers Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans. He was a member of Knights of Columbus and National Federation of Independent Business. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Bonaventure Indian Mission, P.O. 610, Thoreau, N.M. 87323-0610, or to St. Ambrose School, Seymour.

Survivors; wife Jeanne Hunsucker Corcoran; children Patrick, Timothy, Sheila Corcoran, Maureen Gestautas, Rosemary Perry, Karen Dowden; sisters Mary Corcoran, Agnes Kennedy, eight grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren.

To ALL:

From Robert J. Giordano

October 1999

I was very saddened to hear of Joe's passing. Many of you might not realize that Joe was the "father" of our website.

When I started looking for my father's crew in the summer of 1997, I was unable to find any information on the net about the 376th Bomb Group, so much so that my father began to question whether he had the right number of the bomb group.

After finding his crew, I spoke with Corinne and we decided that we would be willing to volunteer our services to create a web page dedicated to the group.

It was at the Knoxville reunion that Joe, familiar with email and the internet, brought the same subject up to the board of directors. I guess that we all just happened to be at the right place at the right time. For the next few months and many telephone calls, faxes and emails back and forth to Joe, Corinne and I had enough material for a start on the website.

Here we are almost two years later and I cannot believe the overwhelming support from our group veterans and family members of veterans of this group.

When we started the website, we only had four photos for the photo gallery! Looking through it today, I am thrilled at the wonderful collection of crew photos, each one so unique and intriguing. It has become a very useful research tool, providing a visual record of the gentlemen that served with this group.

I am truly glad that Joe was able to watch the website develop into what it is today.

Our sincerest sympathies to Joes family and especially to his wife Jeanne in their time of great loss. His presence on our website and the 'net will be sadly missed....

Sincerely,

Robert J. Giordano
Colleen K. Giordano
Corinne M. Kosakowski