Former governor, World War II veteran Ed Whitcomb 'lived big'
'He traveled around the world, but his heart never left Indiana.'
He was a Southern Indiana boy with a yearning to see New York.
He was a young man called away from college to serve overseas in World War II, escaping from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines.
He was an accomplished politician with an eye on Washington, D.C.
And in retirement, former Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb was a sailing enthusiast who ventured across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, in a 30-foot sailboat.
"He traveled around the world, but his heart never left Indiana," said Sister Mary Luke Jones of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove.
In the Statehouse where he served as governor from 1969 to 1973, dignitaries, family and friends hailed Whitcomb as a "Hoosier hero" in a final farewell Friday.
He died Feb. 4 in his home, surrounded by family, at the age of 98.
More than 100 people, many past and present politicians, gathered for his memorial service. They filled pages of the guestbooks with kind messages from people who knew him and people who didn't — people who felt they knew him because of his public service.
Crowds of schoolchildren greeted the arrival of Whitcomb's casket with hands over their hearts, and onlookers lined the balconies.
A Republican, Whitcomb won elections for state senator, secretary of state and governor, becoming known in his last public office as a fiscally responsible leader.
Gov. Mike Pence recalled a story from years ago about high praise he once heard about his predecessor. When visiting with Whitcomb later, Pence eagerly relayed what Ed Meese, President Ronald Reagan's attorney general, had told him: "Reagan really admired Ed Whitcomb."
"Reagan got most things right," Whitcomb replied.
What people seemed to remember most about Whitcomb was his heroic and extraordinary life, as Pence put it. He was a man who cheated death and lived to write about it. A man who "lived big," as former Secretary of State Ed Simcox put it.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, held up a well-worn copy of "Escape from Corregidor," Whitcomb's 1958 book about his war experience in the Army Air Corps.
"It's a story of a true Hoosier hero, but Ed Whitcomb was much more than that," Bosma said.
Indiana Republicans paid to have the book reprinted when Whitcomb ran for governor. Dawn Nisley, 74, remembered delivering copies to beauty salons and barbershops across Elkhart County, as part of Whitcomb's campaign in Northern Indiana.
"Win With Whitcomb," his campaign slogan said. He carried a Polaroid camera to take photos with the people he met while campaigning, handing them the snapshot to keep, Nisley recalled.
Also among those paying their respects was retired Lt. Col. Richard Graham, executive officer of the Indiana National Guard's 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry.
In 2005, his battalion returned from a deployment in Afghanistan. Whitcomb was there to welcome them home, just as he had been when Rangers from the same unit came back from Vietnam decades before.
"He truly wanted to serve the state and the country," Graham said.
Cannons fired 19 rounds to salute Whitcomb's service as governor, followed by three rounds of a rifle salute to honor his military service.
After "Taps" echoed through the Statehouse rotunda, after "America the Beautiful" and the folding of the American flag draped over the casket, after the public memorial service was over, Whitcomb's family circled and held hands for a private moment of prayer.
IndyStar reporters Will Higgins and Michael Anthony Adams contributed to this story.
Call IndyStar reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.
