John F Kennedy was leading his crew in the pacific in 1943. The Japanese where targeting America. A solid destroyer of the Japanese defence traveling at 40 knots came with great momentum and without much fuss, neatly sliced the PT-109 captained by JFK in 10 seconds. PT-109 was cut into two and the impact did not even dampen the speed of the Japanese war ship and neither did they realize that they had ripped an enemy vessel. The impact ensured that Kennedy landed on his much strained bad back. The flames that followed the wreckage licked through the flesh of some of the unlucky crew.
Five of them held on to the floating section of the PT-109 and Kennedy started to scream for the others in the dark and cold night. They were in a territory where the Japanese were patrolling heavily and were on compulsion to avoid drawing attention in any way. Kennedy soon realized that one of his crewmembers was severely burnt so he plunged in to the water to rescue him. He had to repeat his chivalrous act to rescue another crewmember whose leg was hurt. Totally 11 out of 13 crewmembers survived the Japanese blitzkrieg.
In order to provide bare minimum rest to the injured Kennedy and his team got back into the water so that there would be space for the injured to rest. While in water Kennedy encouraged his team to swim to the nearest island 3 miles away. Kennedy used his teeth to hold the sheared strap of his team member Mac and dragged him the entire three miles to the island drinking loads of unpalatable nauseating brine. Surprisingly he reached Mac to safety even before the other crewmembers could reach. Meanwhile a memorial service was held for them thinking that they had reached eternal bode.
The 100-yard Diameter Island had a few coconut trees but they did not have the energy to even think of climbing the tree for coconuts. They had to lie low when a Japanese barge sailed by. Kennedy set out swimming to Ferguson passage carrying with him tons of courage, immeasurable hope, a .38 caliber toy and a 10-inch by 10-inch heavy battery lantern. He was more than disappointed after several hours in the icy water amidst perilous creations and no human company. His return to where he started was arduous and each step on the brash coral reeves was prickly not to mention the unfriendly currents of the water. He crawled on the shore and profusely vomited and requested his teammate to try out for better success, which was brushed aside."
He once again motivated his team to swim along to a larger Island and he himself once again held Mac\'s strap by his clenching teeth and lugged him through the entire course for three hours. The cuts on his feet were swollen like small balloons. Thirst dictated them to have the coconut milk. On the fourth day Kennedy along with Ross after a long swim reached another Island and spotted two people whom they presumed where Japanese which actually was not the case. Kennedy set our alone in a canoe in search of help and interacted with natives and before dawn and after a few hours of exhausted sleep returned to Ross and made him join the canoe, which was soon swamped. Natives rescued them and he carved a message in a coconut shell to be carried by the natives for rescue. In the night they once again set out into the sea with Kennedy rowing and Ross bailing out water with a coconut shell. Very soon, the hostile waves saw to it that they were tossed and they had no choice but to cling to the sides of the canoe. To make matters worse rain joined in the onslaught against the determined. The currents and waves in their fury tossed them without mercy to the coral shore only to be lacerated more. Kennedy ensured that Ross would plant his feet only on the paddle and accordingly he kept placing them in the sand for Ross to walk. The next morning they were woken up by the natives with good news of rescue and finally all were rescued to safety. Learning what he did in the most dangerous and hopeless situation his famous words uttered on January 20th 1961 "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" makes a lot of meaning. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for extremely heroic conduct as Commanding Officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 109
His injury to the back resulted in his retirement from the U.S. Naval Reserve on physical disability in March 1945 only to return as the Chief of armed forces as the President of America.
posted by Joel G @ 2:00 AM
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