More about PT 109

More about PT 109

After the Guadalcanal campaign, which was the Allied forces first major offensive, the U.S. began island hopping, securing the Solomon islands.

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy commanded the PT-109, one of the small 80 foot-long Navy patrol torpedo boats used to monitor and disrupt the Tokyo Express - the shipping lanes used by Imperial Japan's destroyers through the Ferguson and Blackett Straits.

PT boats operated almost exclusively at night, often in fog and without reliable radar. They fired their torpedoes at close range, then sped away. On the foggy night of August, 2, 1943, PT-109 was idling on one engine to avoid detection while awaiting approaching enemy destroyers.

The crew was shocked to realize they were in the direct path of an oncoming speeding destroyer, the Amagiri. With just seconds to respond, they were unable to avoid collision. The PT-109 was rammed, broken in half, and began to began to sink.

After the war, author Robert Donovan interviewed crew members of the Amagiri and concluded that the destroyer intentionally rammed the PT-109. In May of 2002, a National Geographic Society expedition, headed by Robert Ballard, found the wreckage of the PT-109.

Though sustaining permanent back injuries, Kennedy, who had been on Harvard's swim team, helped the 11 survivors swim to shore. Since Imperial Japanese occupied the larger islands, he chose for them to swim 3.5 miles to the small, uninhabited Plum Pudding Island, which was only 100 yards wide. They swam for four hours, with Kennedy towing in his clench teeth the life-jacket strap of the ship's injured machinist, Patrick MacMahon.

Hiding from passing Japanese barges, they realized there was no food or water on the island. That night, Kennedy swam 2 miles to Ferguson Passage hoping to flag down a passing PT boat.

Unsuccessful, he swam to islands Olasana, then Nauro, before returning to Plum Pudding Island.

Kennedy convinced his crew they had to swim to Olasana Island.

On August 4, Kennedy and Lenny Thom helped the dehydrated, starving, and injured crew swim 2 miles to Olasana Island, where there was a small amount of water and a few coconuts.

An Australian coastwatcher asked some friendly islanders to search for them, which was a risky request, as other islanders who had been caught helping Americans were tortured and killed.

Initially the islanders mistook Kennedy, who had swum back to Nauro to scavenge, as being Japanese, as the one islander commented

"All white people looked the same to me."

The islanders then paddled 35 miles back to the American base at Rendova Island, carrying a coconut, in which Kennedy carved the message:

"NAURO ISL, COMMANDER ... NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT ... HE CAN PILOT... 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT... KENNEDY."

On August 8, Lieutenant William Liebenow on the PT-157 came to rescue them. The arranged signal for the pick up was for Kennedy to fire four shots. As he only had three bullets in his pistol, a discarded Japanese rifle was used to shoot the fourth.

Once safely on the PT-157, the rescued crew sang "Yes Jesus Loves Me." Miracles in American History-Vol. TWO: Amazing Faith that Shaped the Nation For his part, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corp Medal for heroism.

In 1963, Cliff Robertson starred as Kennedy in the movie PT-109.