RESCUE UNDERWAY FOR PT109 SURVIVORS
Naru Island (JFK+50) On August 6, 1943, Lt. John F. Kennedy paddled back to his men on Olasana in a dugout canoe. Barney Ross, who remained asleep, swam over later.
JFK, according to Robert Donovan, decided to send the two friendly natives, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, with a message to the PT base.
Without paper or a writing instrument, Lt. Kennedy...
"picked up a coconut and had Biuku quarter it."
JFK then...
"took his sheath knife and on a polished quarter of the coconut he inscribed the following message to the PT base commander:
'NAURO ISL - COMMANDER - NATIVE KNOWS POSIT - HE CAN PILOT - 11 ALIVE - NEED SMALL BOAT- KENNEDY'"
Toy Replica of Coconut Shell Message
With "JFK" GI Joe Toy
Photo by John White (2013)
JFK had the coconut encased in plastic. It was displayed on his desk in the Oval Office at the White House. Today it can be seen at the JFK Library.
Dave Powers, Presidential assistant and later curator, said that it was the most important object in the library because without it all the rest would have never been possible.
The natives hastened to Rendova Harbor 38 miles distant with the coconut message...soon help would finally be on the way to the survivors of PT109.
SOURCE
"PT 109, John F. Kennedy in WWII," by Robert J. Donovan, McGraw-Hill Publishers, New York, 1961, 2001.
JFK's Coconut Message Paperweight
JFK Library Photo
Naru Island (JFK+50) On August 6, 1943, Lt. John F. Kennedy paddled back to his men on Olasana in a dugout canoe. Barney Ross, who remained asleep, swam over later.
JFK, according to Robert Donovan, decided to send the two friendly natives, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, with a message to the PT base.
Without paper or a writing instrument, Lt. Kennedy...
"picked up a coconut and had Biuku quarter it."
JFK then...
"took his sheath knife and on a polished quarter of the coconut he inscribed the following message to the PT base commander:
'NAURO ISL - COMMANDER - NATIVE KNOWS POSIT - HE CAN PILOT - 11 ALIVE - NEED SMALL BOAT- KENNEDY'"
Toy Replica of Coconut Shell Message
With "JFK" GI Joe Toy
Photo by John White (2013)
JFK had the coconut encased in plastic. It was displayed on his desk in the Oval Office at the White House. Today it can be seen at the JFK Library.
Dave Powers, Presidential assistant and later curator, said that it was the most important object in the library because without it all the rest would have never been possible.
The natives hastened to Rendova Harbor 38 miles distant with the coconut message...soon help would finally be on the way to the survivors of PT109.
SOURCE
"PT 109, John F. Kennedy in WWII," by Robert J. Donovan, McGraw-Hill Publishers, New York, 1961, 2001.
JFK's Coconut Message Paperweight
JFK Library Photo
