1. JOHN F. KENNEDY
By: Sam Neal

2. The impact of a sudden collision throws you against the rear of your boat’s cockpit. Your back slams against steel. The pain is beyond words. You cannot believe what is happening--a Japanese warship has rammed your PT boat. Flames surround you. You realize that your boat might explode. Fighting back your pain, you order your crew to abandon ship. You jump overboard with the crew and soon break the water surface--eyes stinging, throat burning, back aching. You shout for your crew and only a few of them answer. Some are badly hurt. If you don’t do something, you will all die at sea.

3. PT 109, commanded by John F. Kennedy with executive officer, Ensign Leonard Jay Thom, and ten enlisted men was one of fifteen boats sent out on patrol on the night of August 1-2, 1943, to intercept Japanese warships in the straits. A PT Boat is a variety of motor torpedo boat (PT, for “Patrol Torpedo”). PT boats are not very large and hold a few people.

4. Around 0-200, with Kennedy at the helm, the destroyer Amagiri, traveling at 40 knots, cut PT 109 in two in ten seconds. Kennedy swam 3 miles with one of his crewmen in a life jacket being carried by Kennedy himself to shore.

5. When Kennedy and his crewmen were ashore, he carved a message in a coconut that said NAURO ISL COMMANDER… NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT… HE CAN PILOT… 11 ALIVE… NEED SMALL BOAT… KENNEDY. This message went through 35 nautical miles of hostile waters patrolled by the Japanese to the nearest Allied naval base.

6. Kennedy was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medals for his heroics in the rescue of the crew of PT 109, as well as the Purple Heart Medal for injuries sustained in the accident on the night of August 1, 1943.