NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Former Archbishop Philip Hannan, a paratroop chaplain during World War II and head of the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 1965 until 1988, has died at the age of 98.

The archdiocese says Hannan died peacefully Thursday morning
after a long illness.

Hannan was assigned to New Orleans from Washington, where he had been auxiliary bishop since 1956.

Two of his saddest duties were delivering eulogies for his friends the Kennedys -- President John F. Kennedy, killed by a sniper in Dallas in 1963, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, shot in Los Angeles during his 1968 campaign for president.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)