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Show . ....... v 0 0 0 MISSING IN smoke, and sea water. Kennedy first realized then thafche had wrenched his back severely in the collision;, stabbing pains in his groin told him he'd suffered internal injuries, too. There was no time for rest, though. By 2 p.m. the hull-barbobbed above the water. The officers agreed to swim for an island some three miles away, gambling it was not Two were strapped to a gun mount which the swimmers would push. "McMahon can't make it this way, Skipper," said Bill Johnson. "He's burned too bad to be lashed on." ely Jap-oceupi- ed. non-swimm- ers Kennedy Tows F1ate 3 Elites Kennedy grabbed a long strap from McMahon's "Mae West." "I can tow him with this" he said. They slipped the machinist's mate into the sea, and he was almost incoherent, but before he lost consciousness, he told how after calling to his crew he had drifted helplessly onto a nearby islet, fallen asleep, and then struck out again at dawn. Kennedy's next 24 hours were a semiconscious daze. Ross swam out on patrols, but it was obvious there would be no rescue here, The few coconuts island had been eaten. on the barren, guano-dee- p At noon, August 4, Kennedy ,was strong enough to make a crucial decision: they would swim toward a small island on the horizon which appeared to have a heavy coconut growth and possibly Japs. Kennedy, again towing McMahon , was first to reach the island. Heavy currents swept the others off course, but aby evening they were reunited. A heavy rain began, and. the men's half-nakbodies shook violently in the chill. Kennedy- - drank some coconut milk and became nauseous out the night. At dawn they finally got a look at their new home. It was a fair-sizisland with enough coconuts but were they all foul? Before they could decide, a thundering roar broke over their heads. "Planes! Down!" They plunged for cover as an Australian P-spattered bullets at them. "That's enough here," Kennedy said. "Let's see what's next door." ed ...lnnedy,with.thc strap between his teeth, began breaststroking to the strip of coral in the distance. Evening was falling before the exhausted group crawled over knife-shar- p coral tothe safety of the island. For an hour, they lay there gasping for breath. But Kennedy was planning, too. In Ferguson Passage, which lay just beyond an outer reef,-FT attack unit went On nightly runs. "I'm going out there," Kennedy told Ross. "Maybe I can attract the patrol's attention." By 7 he was in the sea again, carrying a ship's lantern and ir .38pistoi: He4d been in salt water the better part of 16 hours, and now faced at least another six hours. And all for nothing. The PT patrol was out and fighting all right-- but this night some 10 miles beyond Ferguson Passage. Chilled numb, Kennedy started back. While swimming the final lap, Kennedy was caught in an unexpected current. Too exhausted to struggle, he was swept back into the Passage. His arms became too heavy to move. His vision hazed and thoughts of death came again. Then he found himself being swept back to shore. The current carried hfrn to an islet half a mile from his crew. Kennedy unstrapped the lantern from his belt and flashed a signal to the island. He shouted the code word the crew had agreed upon.' "Roger!" "Wilco!" came the answer. The men on the island rushed to the beach. They heard another fainter call, "Roger!" Then another then silence. "He's dead," somebody said. Angrily, the others told him to shut up. But they, too, felt that Kennedy had foundered in the surf off the island. They were not alone. Joseph P. Kennedy, the lieutenant's wealthy father and former ambassador to Great Britain, received a telegram reading: "The Secretary of the Navy regrets .'. . John Fitzgerald Kennedy is missing in action . . ." And at the Rendova base, crews of Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla One attended services for their comrades. Edmund Mowrer, a torpedomari among the 109's survivors, squinted through the morning haze of August 3. "Somebody's out there," he shouted. As the figure approached, they recognized Kennedy and shouted and jumped in half -- hysterical relief. Kennedy had to be carried out of the water; Lieut. Kennedy in ed a 40 A Gift from the Japs With RossTlie swam west ward 't6"TTfbss slanctT one of the largest in the area. To. avoid possible Japs, they "bellied" up the coral and ducked into a heavy undergrowth. Then Ross grabbed Kennedy's arm and pointed to the beach. A rectangular box with Japanese writing on the side rocked back and forth in the wash of the sea. "Let's go!" Kennedy snapped. The two officers dashed to the box and pulled it quickly back to the brush. Inside they found 30 or 40 bags of crackers and candy which they cached. A few hundred canoe. yards farther, they found a native one-mLuck, at last, was swinging toward the castaways. Ross stayed on to scout the island, while Kennedy paddled the canoe out to sea to contact PTs. He returned at nightfall disappointed, but he loaded the Jap food in the canoe and started toward the crew's island. As he approached, he could an hear the men talking to some natives. "No, not Jap. We American. American," Thorn was saying impatiently. Kennedy ran to the group and took up the chant and, after endless haranguing, convinced the natives that these indeed were "nice 'mericans" not "dirty Japs." The 109 crew now had friends. They gave the Americans fresh coconut meat and milk and shared the-Ja- p rations in what became a neighborly feast. On August 6, the natives paddled Kennedy to Gross Island, where he found Ross, and then showed the Americans to a cove where a two-mcanoe waf hidden. Kennedy took a 'coconut and an chiseled a message on, it: "ALIVE NATIVES KNOW POSIT AND REEFS KENNEDY" Over and over, he repeated,' "Rendova . . . take' coconut to Rendova. Understand?" The natives young lieutenant's survival of a wartime shipwreck 39-14- .Jfw yd . nodded and started off in their canoe in the wrong direction. Kennedy and Ross decided their best bet was to go for help themselves. Far out on Ferguson Pass, a blackening rain squall swept down on them in the small canoe. They tried to escape its path, but a howling rush of wind caught the stern of the canoe, spun it ' m a whirlpool, and flipped it oyer. The wind propelled Kennedy and Ross toward .shore at a terrific speed. Over its howling and the rush of water, "they could hear the 'breakers, six and seven feet highA smash with crushing force on the reefs. Once again Lieutenant Kennedy said a prayer and anticipated death. He was pitched dizzily upward as they, approached the jagged reef south of Cross Island. 1 11 HIT! Tl: i1 1 t .1 ITi 1 miraculously, tne sea uuea mm ciear or me aeaaiy orarana xiroppea mm almost gently m a lagoon. Staggering through the tepid water, he first saw a spreading stream of blood and then, half submerged, Ross. He appeared dead. The coral had ripped strips of flesh off Ross' chest and abdomen and left his hands red-raKennedy lifted him from the water and heard him groan. He was alive after all. When they reached shore, both men collapsed. Blazing sun awoke them the next morning. Kennedy's internal injuries were torturous now, and Ross' body burned, with open sores. Kennedy propped himself up. "Listen!" he said hoarsely. Hear something? "Hiieeeh! 'rtlerimns!'"' The officers jumped up and peered out to sea, An outrigger- - canoe- was cutting for their island, paddled by eight natives. When they landed, they shook hands, then handed Kennedy a note: "I strongly advise that you come with these natives to me. Meanwhile I shall be in communication with your authorities at Rendova.' It was from an Australian coastwatcher. The two natives of yesterday had wisely ignored instructions to go to distant Rendova, and instead proceeded to the Australian's secret headquarters. Kennedy and Ross looked at each other, stunned. Wordlessly, they followed the natives to the island occupied by the rest of the crew. There the rescuers prepared a hot meal, then motioned Ken-Tieto the Bot tomTCeiFFulnggef, cbverecTlhinTr" with palm fronds to prevent detection from the air, and took him to the Australian coastwatcher. The Aussie, Reg Evans, insisted that Kennedy rest while the others were rescued. Kennedy refused, saying it .was his job to take part in the rescue. The official Navy report concludes: "It was arranged that PT boats would rendez- vous with him (Kennedy) in Ferguson Passage that evening at 2230 (10:30 p.m.). Accordingly he was taken to the rendezvous point and finally managed to make contact with the PTs at 2315. He climbed aboard the PT and directed it to the rest of the survivors. The rescue was effected without mishap, and, "the Rendova base was reached at 0530, ' 1 1 w. - dy August 8, seven days after the ramming of PT 109 in Blackett Strait." a true tpst of courage for a future President Family Weekly, October 15, 1961 |
