JFK’S war coconut
The future American president scrawled a distress signal on this shell after his patrol boat was sunk during the Pacific Campaign in 1943
This coconut carried a message that saved Kennedy’s life in WWII
John F. Kennedy’s victory in the 1960 United States presidential election was not just based on his charisma and television debate performances but also on his heroic war record. In August 1943 he was a 26-yearold lieutenant in the US Navy Reserve and had been commanding a patrol torpedo boat called PT-109 since April. PT-109 was part of Motor Torpedo Squadron Two, which was based in the Solomon Islands. On 2 August 1943 the vessel was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in the Blackett
Strait, and two of Kennedy’s crewmembers were killed. He organised the 11 surviving crewmen in the water, and they swam over five kilometres (three miles) to a deserted island. Kennedy then personally swam to other islands to find food and supplies, before returning to his crew. He then made them swim an additional three kilometres
(1.9 miles) to Olasana Island.
The 12 men survived for six days on Olasana with water, coconuts and salvaged cookies before they were found by two Solomon Islanders who had been dispatched by Australian coast guards.
Kennedy gave them a message, which he carved onto a coconut shell, to deliver to the PT base at
Rendova Island. The message read, “NAURO ISL…
COMMANDER… NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT…HE CAN
PILOT…11 ALIVE…NEED SMALL BOAT…KENNEDY”.
The crew were finally rescued on 8 August, and
Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps
Medal as well as the Purple Heart. The incident permanently damaged his back, but Kennedy became a war hero, and his survival story helped to launch his political career.
RIGHT: Kennedy kept his life-saving coconut shell and had it encased in wood. He later used it as a paperweight on his desk in the Oval Office