On this day in 1943: Lt. Kennedy helps save the crew of PT-109

[Statistikhengst]

Lt. Kennedy helps save the crew of PT-109 Aug. 1 1943 - Andrew Glass - POLITICO


Nice but brief write-up in Politico over what Kennedy did.

 

[rightwinger]

I still don't know how he got hit in the first place, but his actions in saving his crew were heroic

JFK barely recovered after the ordeal

 

[Statistikhengst]

I still don't know how he got hit in the first place, but his actions in saving his crew were heroic

JFK barely recovered after the ordeal

According to Politico:

While on a mission in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, Kennedy’s patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer, slicing it in two. Other PT boats in the area assumed the crew was dead. Two crewmen were, in fact, killed. But 11 survived, including its skipper.

 

[Statistikhengst]

 

[Freewill]

How does a PT boat get rammed by a destroyer? PT boat, light and maneuverable, destroyer, not so much.

 

[Freewill]

Read the article, what exactly did he do that was heroic? I know this story has been written into American folk story history but really. He lost a PT boat to a destroyer ramming him, how in the hell does that happen? All the story says he swam out to sea, trying to wave down a boat that wasn't looking for them because they were thought dead and he carved a message in a coconut. OK, great they survived but what was heroic in doing what needed to be done?

I am just taking the devil's advocate's side.

 

[Statistikhengst]

Read the article, what exactly did he do that was heroic? I know this story has been written into American folk story history but really. He lost a PT boat to a destroyer ramming him, how in the hell does that happen? All the story says he swam out to sea, trying to wave down a boat that wasn't looking for them because they were thought dead and he carved a message in a coconut. OK, great they survived but what was heroic in doing what needed to be done?

I am just taking the devil's advocate's side.

Actually, with all respect, the reason for and Kennedy's self-depricating humor are also within the link.

Try again, this time with talent!!

 

[Freewill]

I still don't know how he got hit in the first place, but his actions in saving his crew were heroic

JFK barely recovered after the ordeal

I just read a write up and it mentions no injuries other then maybe his back. It makes no mention of him barely recovering.

 

[regent]

If Kennedy had been captured and been tortured by the Japanese, today Kennedy would be rated as a non-hero.

 

[Freewill]

Anyone know how many other PT boats were rammed during the war? And there were thousands......... Zero.

 

[rightwinger]

I still don't know how he got hit in the

I still don't know how he got hit in the first place, but his actions in saving his crew were heroic

JFK barely recovered after the ordeal

I just read a write up and it mentions no injuries other then maybe his back. It makes no mention of him barely recovering.

JFK had a series of back problems and other medical issues that got him released

He was almost as much an invalid as FDR and was on major drugs

 

[rightwinger]

Anyone know how many other PT boats were rammed during the war? And there were thousands......... Zero.

I don't know the details
It was at night. Depending on the moon, how high the seas were, whether he was moving etc

 

[Sunni Man]

How does a PT boat get rammed by a destroyer? PT boat, light and maneuverable, destroyer, not so much.

"
"PT-109 was ordered to continue patrolling the area in case the enemy ships returned. Around 2:00 a.m. on 2 August 1943, on a moonless night, Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid detection of her wake by Japanese aircraft when the crew realized they were in the path of the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which was returning to Rabaul from Vila, Kolombangara, after offloading supplies and 900 soldiers. Amagiri was traveling at a relatively high speed of between 23 and 40 knots (43 and 74 km/h) in order to reach harbor by dawn, when Allied air patrols were likely to appear.

The crew of the PT-109 had less than ten seconds to get the engines up to speed, and were run down by the destroyer between Kolombangara and Ghizo Island."

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Freewill]

I still don't know how he got hit in the

I still don't know how he got hit in the first place, but his actions in saving his crew were heroic

JFK barely recovered after the ordeal

I just read a write up and it mentions no injuries other then maybe his back. It makes no mention of him barely recovering.

JFK had a series of back problems and other medical issues that got him released

He was almost as much an invalid as FDR and was on major drugs

He did have a bad back and Addison disease which they hid from the public.

In October 1943, Kennedy took command of a PT boat converted into a gunboat, PT-59, which took part in a Marine rescue on Choiseul Island that November.[28] Kennedy then left the PT-59 and returned to the United States in early January 1944. After receiving treatment for his back injury, he was released from active duty in late 1944.[29]

Beginning in January 1945, Kennedy spent three more months recovering from his back injury at Castle Hot Springs, a resort and temporary military hospital in Arizona.[30][31]Kennedy was honorably discharged just prior to Japan's surrender in 1945. Kennedy's other decorations in World War II included the Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.[1] When later asked how he became a war hero, Kennedy joked: "It was easy. They cut my PT boat in half."[32]

In April 1945, Kennedy's father, who was a friend of William Randolph Hearst, arranged a position for his son as a special correspondent for Hearst Newspapers; the assignment kept Kennedy's name in the public eye and "expose[d] him to journalism as a possible career."[33] He worked as a correspondent that May, covering the Potsdam Conference and other events.[34]

John F. Kennedy - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Here is an interesting article on how sick Kennedy really was. Imagine, Reagan gets pillaged for being old but Kennedy was try sick and on drugs.

John F. Kennedy s Addison s disease was probably caused by rare autoimmune disease - latimes

 

[Freewill]

How does a PT boat get rammed by a destroyer? PT boat, light and maneuverable, destroyer, not so much.

"
"PT-109 was ordered to continue patrolling the area in case the enemy ships returned. Around 2:00 a.m. on 2 August 1943, on a moonless night, Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid detection of her wake by Japanese aircraft when the crew realized they were in the path of the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which was returning to Rabaul from Vila, Kolombangara, after offloading supplies and 900 soldiers. Amagiri was traveling at a relatively high speed of between 23 and 40 knots (43 and 74 km/h) in order to reach harbor by dawn, when Allied air patrols were likely to appear.

The crew of the PT-109 had less than ten seconds to get the engines up to speed, and were run down by the destroyer between Kolombangara and Ghizo Island."

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Yeah, I read that after I posted. A Moonless night, how did they expect an airplane to see them? I guess the roar of a destroyer coming at high speed was drowned out by the one engine running with the silencers deployed.

 

[Sunni Man]

Read the article, what exactly did he do that was heroic?

"The eleven survivors clung to PT-109's bow section as it drifted slowly south. By about2:00 p.m., it was apparent that the hull was taking on water and would soon sink, so the men decided to abandon it and swim for land. As there were Japanese camps on all the nearby large islands, they chose the tiny deserted Plum Pudding Island, southwest of Kolombangara.
They placed their lantern, shoes, and non-swimmers on one of the timbers used as a gun mount and began kicking together to propel it. Kennedy, who had been on the Harvard University swim team, used a life jacket strap clenched between his teeth to tow his badly-burned senior enlisted machinist mate, MM1 Patrick McMahon. It took four hours to reach their destination, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away, which they reached without interference by sharks or crocodiles

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[namvet]

my dad's cruiser rammed a destroyer. USS Laub during the battle of anzio. after that the cruiser was known as a can opener

 

[jasonnfree]

How does a PT boat get rammed by a destroyer? PT boat, light and maneuverable, destroyer, not so much.

"
"PT-109 was ordered to continue patrolling the area in case the enemy ships returned. Around 2:00 a.m. on 2 August 1943, on a moonless night, Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid detection of her wake by Japanese aircraft when the crew realized they were in the path of the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which was returning to Rabaul from Vila, Kolombangara, after offloading supplies and 900 soldiers. Amagiri was traveling at a relatively high speed of between 23 and 40 knots (43 and 74 km/h) in order to reach harbor by dawn, when Allied air patrols were likely to appear.

The crew of the PT-109 had less than ten seconds to get the engines up to speed, and were run down by the destroyer between Kolombangara and Ghizo Island."

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Yeah, I read that after I posted. A Moonless night, how did they expect an airplane to see them? I guess the roar of a destroyer coming at high speed was drowned out by the one engine running with the silencers deployed.

Kennedy has been dead over 50 years and you're trying to swift boat him. Or is it pt boat him? You must be a republican.

 

[regent]

Is Kennedy still considered a hero?

 

[namvet]

Is Kennedy still considered a hero?

at least by the men he saved