John Kennedy rescues PT-109 shipmates, August 2, 1943
A Japanese destroyer plows through US Navy Patrol Torpedo Boat 109. The boat explodes and burns. Two crewmembers are killed instantly. The eleven survivors float in the Pacific Ocean, waiting for capture by the Japanese or death by shark attack. The boat’s commander, twenty-six-year-old Lieutenant John Kennedy, orders them to swim to nearby Plum Pudding Island. He himself tows a badly burned crewmember the five hours it takes to reach land. The men survive on coconuts for six days until they are rescued. As president, Kennedy keeps a coconut as a paperweight on his desk.