Reference Entry
PT-109 RAMMED IN THE SOLOMONS
That same summer, halfway around the world, a small wooden patrol boat was cutting through the darkness of the Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, was part of a group of motor torpedo boats tasked with intercepting Japanese shipping. In the early hours of August 2nd, a Japanese destroyer loomed out of the night and sliced through the slower patrol boat, killing two crewmen and flinging the survivors into burning fuel and debris.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
PT-109 rammed in the Solomons
That same summer, halfway around the world, a small wooden patrol boat was cutting through the darkness of the Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, was part of a group of motor torpedo boats tasked with intercepting Japanese shipping. In the early hours of August 2nd, a Japanese destroyer loomed out of the night and sliced through the slower patrol boat, killing two crewmen and flinging the survivors into burning fuel and debris. Over the next several days, Kennedy and his men swam to nearby islets, surviving on coconuts and rainwater while trying to signal friendly forces. Kennedy’s efforts to tow a badly wounded sailor by gripping a life-jacket strap in his teeth became a famous detail of the ordeal. Eventually, coastwatchers and local islanders helped arrange their rescue. The episode illustrated the hazards of small boat warfare in the Pacific and later became part of the future president’s public narrative of leadership under pressure.
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