Posted on 05/29/2002 1:15:23 AM PDT by kattracks
SYDNEY, Australia, May 29, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard said Wednesday he has found the World War II patrol boat commanded by John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Ocean off the Solomon Islands.
The remains of the wooden boat, PT 109, were lying on the seabed in the Blanket Strait near Gizo in the New Georgia group of islands, Ballard told Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Gizo is 235 miles northwest of the capital of the Solomons, Honiara.
Ballard, who led a team that found the Titanic shipwreck in 1985, said he located the wreckage of Kennedy's boat last week after searching for about a week. He did not provide further details of the discovery, citing contractual obligations over film and magazine rights to the search.
The radio report said a National Geographic documentary will be released in November. Members of the National Geographic team in the Solomon Islands did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The PT 109 sank in August 1943 after it was hit by a Japanese warship.
It is unknown how much of the boat remains besides the engines. Water is expected to have caused extensive damage to the hull.
Ballard, who found the wreck of the Titanic and other historic ships, had planned to use remote cameras to search for the boat.
The late president's brother, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, and daughter, Caroline Kennedy, agreed to the expedition after being assured that the site would not be disturbed. Two members of Kennedy's crew died when the boat was hit.
In a 1999 interview, Ballard said PT 109 is "not lost, just misplaced." But he added searching for the vessel in an area full of unexploded ordnance would be "no fun."
Kennedy was commanding a patrol in August 2, 1943, when the boat was hit and cut in two by a Japanese destroyer.
Kennedy and 10 other survivors swam 15 hours to reach a nearby island. He towed one injured survivor, engineer Patrick Henry McMahon, by swimming with a strap from McMahon's lifejacket in his teeth.
They later swam to another island where there were coconuts to eat. Kennedy carved a message into one coconut and gave it to a native islander to take to rescuers.
Patrol torpedo boats, such as the PT109, had mahogany hulls. Plywood was used for the internal structures, chart houses and gun turrets. They were 80 feet long and powered by 12-cylinder gasoline engines.
The boats were used primarily to attack surface ships, but they also were used to lay mines and smoke screens, to rescue downed aviators and to carry out intelligence operations.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
The story of the PT 109 crew's survival is truly one of courage and bravery in times of war. Something that our present and previous president cannot relate to. BTW, I am referring to "W's" military record and not his presidency. What Bush is going through now is not a fair comparison. There were no advisors on the 109.
If I may be so bold:
Who gives a rats a$$ about what the Kennedy's think about this?
There, that feels better.
You are assuming it was an accident. Suppose it was a way of eliminating a pregnant political embarasment. (Not that a Kenedy would be a womanizer). Mary Jo was not autopsied, and her body was cremated, an extremely rare thing for a Catholic at that time...
What! Where the hell did that come from? I can understand the contrast to the draft dodging America hater, but Bush? I respect the fact the JFK actually served, and that he survived such an ordeal is amazing. But even Klintoon could have sat in boat and gotten run over by another ship -- that doesn't take a lot of talent. The survival part pretty much comes instinctually after that -- something Klintoon applied in his politically life every day after Monica Lewinsky was revealed. And I'll not fault W one bit for serving in the National Guard.
I got no problem with them giving old Jack the medal for towing that crewman to shore, but they should have given the guy the medal at his court martial for losing his boat, as they would have done to anyone else.
Note: The McCormack Family, bitter rivals to the Kennedys in Assachewshuts, named their family yacht the Yamagiri, after the destroyer that rammed Jack's PT 109. Ha!
Oh puhleeze.
I'm sure W said to himself "I could get hurt if I went to Vietnam. I'd better do something nice and safe. I know, I'll become a fighter pilot, like my dad. That's safe."
Please don't put W in the same boat as his predecessor.
Alcohol "may" have been a factor.
No charges were filed.
I'm no fan of the Kennedy clan but, from everything that I've read, this fact is pretty well-established. McMahon was very severely burned and unable to use his arms so JFK purportedly put one of the lifejacket straps between his teeth and towed the wounded engineer until they hit land.
I also remember that phrase from the song Jimmy Dean did about the incident:
McMahon, the Irishman, was burned so bad that he couldn't swim;
"Leave me here. Go on", he said, "'Cause, if you don't, you'll all be dead."
The PT skipper wouldn't leave him, a man to die alone at sea,
So, with a strap between his teeth, he towed the Irishman through the sea.
Nor Kennedy's stupidity to Bush's inteligence.
Listen folks, I am not saying that GWB is all bad. He just hasn't won me over yet. At least he hasn't screwed the pooch yet. He has good people behind him and that is half the battle. But this Iraq thing is going to get a lot of Americans killed, if he decides to invade.
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