[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3822]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. JOHN KERNER

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
celebrating the 95th birthday of Dr. John Kerner, an American hero, 
healthcare pioneer, and cherished doctor to so many families, including 
my own.
  John Kerner was born in Portland, OR, and raised in Boston and San 
Francisco. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and 
UCSF Medical School, serving in the ROTC while in school. In 1943, he 
was called to active duty and commissioned as a first lieutenant.
  As a battalion surgeon and combat medic in World War II, Dr. Kerner 
served with great distinction on the battlefields of Omaha Beach, 
Saint-Lo, and Bastogne. Shortly after landing in Normandy, he delivered 
a breech baby at a combat aid station, saving the mother and her child. 
On another occasion, when a group of U.S. soldiers was nearly 
surrounded by German SS troops, Dr. Kerner and one of his medics drove 
straight through the lines to deliver medical supplies and care to the 
wounded.
  For his valiant service in World War II, Dr. Kerner was awarded the 
Combat Medic Badge, two Bronze Stars, five Battle Stars, and a 
Presidential Unit Citation. In 2007, he was awarded the Legion of Honor 
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He later recounted his experiences 
in a stirring memoir, ``A Combat Medic Comes Home.''
  After the war, Dr. Kerner returned home to California, where he 
served the women and families of the San Francisco Bay area as an 
outstanding OB/GYN and the medical community as a teacher and 
administrator. During his residency studies at UC San Francisco, he 
worked closely with Dr. Herbert F. Traut, who had helped to develop the 
Pap smear. Along with Traut, Kerner was instrumental in ensuring that 
women in the community had access to these critical screenings, which 
drastically reduced the instances of cervical cancer. To honor Dr. 
Kerner and his groundbreaking work, UC San Francisco established the 
John A. Kerner Distinguished Professorship in Gynecologic Oncology 
focusing on cancer research and patient care for women.
  Dr. Kerner later became the founding director of the OB/GYN 
Department at Mt. Zion Hospital, where he taught the next generation of 
physicians and served as chief of staff before establishing his own 
private practice. My children are among the more than 2,000 babies that 
he delivered over the course of his career.
  Dr. John Kerner has enriched the lives of so many, from the wounded 
of World War II who made it home thanks to his exceptional care and 
courage, to the women whose health he protected and whose babies he 
brought into the world, to the many doctors who now do the same because 
he taught them how. I am honored to salute him today in the 
Senate.

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