Kennedy Island, Solomans

Kennedy Island (although also called Plum Pudding Island, the correct local name is Kasolo Island) is an island in the Solomon Islands that was named after John F. Kennedy. It was on this island that Lt. John F. Kennedy aided his injured crew after his boat, the PT-109, was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in World War II. Two American sailors died in the incident.

Kennedy Island lies 15 minutes by boat from Gizo, the provincial capital of the Solomon Islands' Western Province. The island was recently acquired by Solomon Islands Resorts, and day trips can be arranged to visit the island from the Gizo Hotel. The island is approximately 2 kilometres from Gizo Island and can be seen and reached by kayak from Fatboys Resort.

The events that led to Kennedy being marooned on tis island are that 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 after offloading supplies and 900 soldiers. Amagiri was traveling at a relatively high speed in order to reach harbor by dawn, when Allied air patrols were likely to appear. The crew had less than 10 seconds to get the engines up to speed, and were run down by the destroyer between Kolombangara and Ghizo Island,

Conflicting statements have been made as to whether the destroyer captain had spotted and steered towards the boat. Some reports suggest the Amagiri's captain never realized what happened until after the fact. The author, Donovan, having interviewed the men on the destroyer concluded that it was not an accident. Damage to a propeller slowed the Japanese destroyer's trip to her own home base.

PT-109 was cut in two. Seamen Andrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold W. Marney were killed, and two other members of the crew were badly injured. For such a catastrophic collision, explosion, and fire, it was a low loss rate compared to other boats that were hit by shell fire. PT-109 was gravely damaged, with watertight compartments keeping only the forward hull afloat in a sea of flames.

The 2 other American Patrol Boats in the area . PT-169 launched two torpedoes that missed the destroyer and PT-162's torpedoes failed to fire at all. Both boats then turned away from the scene of the action and returned to base without checking for survivors.

The eleven survivors clung to PT-109's bow section as it drifted slowly south. By about 2:00 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 (now Kewnnedy Island) . 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 away, which they reached without interference by sharks or crocodiles.

The island was only 100 yards (90 m) in diameter, with no food or water. The crew had to hide from passing Japanese barges. Kennedy swam to Naru and Olasana islands, a round trip of about 2.5 miles in search of help and food. He then led his men to Olasana Island, which had coconut trees and drinkable water

The explosion on 2 August was spotted by an Australian officer who manned a secret observation post at the top of the Mount Veve volcano on Kolombangara, where more than 10,000 Japanese troops were garrisoned below on the southeast portion. He dispatched two islanders in a dugout canoe to look for possible survivors after decoding news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost PT-109. Kennedy and his men survived for six days on coconuts before they were found by the scouts. Gasa and Kumana disobeyed an order by stopping by Naru to investigate a Japanese wreck, from which they salvaged fuel and food. They first fled by canoe from Kennedy, who to them was simply a shouting stranger. On the next island, they pointed their Tommy guns at the rest of the crew since the only light-skinned people they expected to find were Japanese and they were not familiar with either the language or the people.

Gasa later said "All white people looked the same to me." Kennedy convinced them they were on the same side. The small canoe was not big enough for passengers. So Kennedy cut a message on a coconut to let the Americans know that he was alive with is crew . The message was delivered at great risk through 35 mi of hostile waters patrolled by the Japanese to the nearest Allied base at Rendova. Later, a canoe returned for Kennedy, taking him back to coordinate the rescue. PT-157 was able to pick up the survivors.

Thom (the PT-109 First Officer) and Kennedy were both awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal

The wreckage of PT-109 was located in May 2002, when a National Geographic Society expedition headed by Robert Ballard found a torpedo tube from wreckage matching the description and location of Kennedy's vessel.The boat was identified by Dale Ridder, a weapons and explosives expert on the U.S. Marine Forensics Panel. The stern section was not found, but a search using remote vehicles found the forward section, which had drifted south of the collision site. Much of the half-buried wreckage and grave site was left undisturbed in accordance with Navy policy. Max Kennedy, JFK's nephew, who joined Ballard on the expedition, presented a bust of JFK to the islanders who had found Kennedy and his crew.

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