Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation (8 page)

Kennedy and his men could see bombers like this B-17 in the air over the island. Gizo Island is below.
[© Corbis]

Although light-headed from dehydration and lack of food, Kennedy started out. When he reached the island, he couldn’t find a sandy beach to crawl onto. His shoes scraped against the reef, which seemed endless. The coral sliced his hands and legs. So he decided on a courageous and foolhardy alternate course of action: He swam out into open water, lantern held aloft, hoping to signal a passing PT boat.

But on this night the U.S. Navy did not send PT boats through the Ferguson Passage. Kennedy treaded water in the blackness, waiting in vain for the sound of muffled propellers.

He finally gave up. But when he tried swimming back to his men, the currents worked against him. He was swept far out into the Blackett Strait and frantically lit the lamp to signal his men as he drifted past. On their island, his crew argued among themselves about whether the light they were seeing was real or an illusion brought on by hunger and thirst.

Carried by the currents, Kennedy floated all night long. The skin on his fingers wrinkled, and his body grew cold. But he never let go of the lamp.

As the sun came up, Kennedy was stunned to realize that the same currents that had pulled him out to sea had spun around and deposited him right where he started. He swam back safely to his men. After hours as a beacon in the darkness, the lamp finally went out once and for all.

Days passed. Kennedy and his men survived by choking down live snails and licking moisture off leaves. Sometimes they saw aircraft dogfighting in the skies, but they never spotted a rescue plane. They didn’t know it, of course, but, even as they struggled to survive, their PT brethren held a memorial service in their honor.

After four days, Kennedy persuaded George Ross to attempt a swim with him. This time they headed for an island named Naru, where it was very possible they would run into Japanese soldiers. At this point in their ordeal, racked by hunger and excruciating thirst, they preferred capture to certain death.

The swim lasted an hour. At Naru, they came upon an abandoned enemy barge and saw two men hurriedly paddling away in a canoe. Kennedy was sure they were enemy soldiers. Kennedy and Ross searched the barge for supplies and found water and hardtack, very dry thick crackers. They also discovered a one-man canoe. After spending the day in hiding, Kennedy left Ross on Naru and paddled the small canoe back to his men.

This model of
PT-109
is on display in the White House.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

Finally, Kennedy received a bit of good news. The men he had thought were Japanese soldiers were actually local islanders. He would discover that many Solomon Islanders worked as scouts for the Allies during the war. They had spotted Kennedy and Ross, and then paddled to
PT-109
’s crew to warn them about Japanese forces in the area.

George “Barney” Ross (top) and John F. Kennedy (middle) were on
PT-109
when it was destroyed. Jim Reed (left) and Paul Fay (right) also served in the Solomon Islands. Photo taken in 1943.
[© Corbis]

Kennedy met these islanders in person the next morning when his canoe sank on the way back to Naru. These highly experienced men of the sea came out of nowhere to pluck him from the Pacific and paddle him safely to George Ross. Before the islanders left, Kennedy carved a note into the shell of a fallen coconut:

NAURO ISL … COMMANDER

NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT …

HE CAN PILOT … 11 ALIVE … NEED SMALL BOAT …

KENNEDY

With that cryptic message in their possession, the natives paddled away.

Night fell. Rain poured down. Kennedy and Ross slept under a bush. Their arms and legs were swollen from bug bites and reef scratches.

As if in a mirage, Kennedy woke up to see four islanders standing over him. The sun was rising. Ross’s limbs were horribly disfigured from his coral wounds; one arm had puffed up to the size of a football. Kennedy’s own body was beginning to suffer from infection.

“I have a letter for you, sir,” one of the men said in English.

An amazed Kennedy sat up and read the note. The scouts had taken his coconut to a New Zealand infantry detachment hidden nearby. The note was from the officer in charge. It said Kennedy should allow the islanders to paddle him to safety.

So it was that John F. Kennedy was placed in the bottom of a canoe, covered in palm fronds to hide him from Japanese aircraft, and paddled to a hidden location on New Georgia Island. When the canoe arrived at the water’s edge, a young New Zealander stepped from the jungle. Kennedy came out from his hiding place and climbed out of the canoe.

“How do you do?” the New Zealander asked formally. “I’m Lieutenant Wincote.” He pronounced his rank the British way: LEFFtenant.

“Hello. I’m Kennedy.” The two men shook hands.

Wincote nodded toward the jungle. “Come up to my tent and have a cup of tea.”

Kennedy and his men were soon rescued by the U.S. Navy and the six-day saga of
PT-109
came to an end. Kennedy was sent home to recuperate. His back, which had been painful for many years, was worse after the long days at sea. And he had malaria, which caused him to lose weight. Less than a year later, still thin but much healthier, John Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and a citation for “extremely heroic conduct.”

Newspapers carried stories about the brave young man’s adventure. The story of
PT-109
became a legend, and John Kennedy came to be known as a hero. Soon the story would help him become a politician and lead him to the presidency.

A B-29 Liberator bomber. Joe Kennedy was flying a version of this aircraft on its first mission when it exploded.
[Eugene Berman/
Shutterstock.com
]

CHAPTER FOUR

AUGUST 12, 1944

Over the English Channel

T
HERE IS ANOTHER EVENT
that jump-starts John Kennedy’s journey to the Oval Office. Kennedy’s older brother, Joe, is not as lucky as John at cheating death. Joe is a U.S. Navy bomber pilot flying antisubmarine missions against the Nazis in Europe. His experimental Liberator bomber plane is carrying 21,000 pounds of the explosive TNT when it detonates over the English Channel on August 12, 1944. There is no body to bury and no memento of the tragedy to place on JFK’s desk.

Joe was the firstborn son. His father expected him to be a politician. John is next in line. Because he is the second-born in a family where great things are expected from the oldest son, John has not had a very hard life. He was a sickly child, grew into a young man fond of books and parties, and, with the exception of commanding
PT-109
, has shown no interest in pursuing a leadership position. He thought he’d be a writer or a reporter.

Joseph Kennedy Jr. in Switzerland in 1939.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

Growing up, John looked up to his charismatic older brother, but he took his orders from his father. Joseph P. Kennedy is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in America and a former ambassador to Great Britain.

Joseph Kennedy Sr.; his wife, Rose; and eight of their children at their summer home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in 1931. From left to right: Bobby, Jack, Eunice, Jean, Joseph Senior, Rose with Pat in front of her, Kathleen, Joe Junior, and Rosemary. Edward was not yet born.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

All nine Kennedy children obey the patriarch. John Kennedy will one day liken the relationship to that of puppets and their puppet master. Joseph P. Kennedy decides how his children will spend their lives and monitors their every action.

Young Joe’s tragic death marks the moment when John F. Kennedy inherits the role of politician in the Kennedy family.