Anniversary of JFK's Solomons Swim

[October]

JFK's epic Solomons swim
JFK's boat was rammed by a Japanese craft during World War II


Sixty years after it helped turn him into a war hero, a swim made by former US President John F Kennedy in the Solomon Islands is being re-enacted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3107103.stm

[Octafish]

1. Kennedys were raised to be BRAVE.

After PT-109 was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer, JFK and a couple of his men collected the nine survivors of a crew of eleven on the floating bow of the boat. Some were seriously burned and injured from the collision, which occurred in the middle of a moonless night.

When morning light finally came, JFK led the several mile swim to a nearby island. JFK pulled the most severely wounded man by holding the man's lifejacket strap in his teeth.

Later that night, JFK took a lantern and swam out into the shark-infested channel, hoping to signal a passing ship. He did it again the next night, but was too sick to go the third. His XO, if memory serves, swam out. Again, no luck.

The next day, they were contacted by local people. They took a message JFK carved onto a coconut to their allied, an Australian coastal watcher. Within hours, they were rescued.



Unfortunately, the war claimed the life of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. The President’s big brother (2 years?) was the one being groomed for a life in politics by The Old Man. A very brave and conscientious young man, here's how young Joe died in World War II:

After completing his tour as pilot of a US Navy B-24 Liberator on anti-submarine warfare patrol from 1943-44, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. volunteered for a top-secret mission in which he would pilot an experimental version of the 4-engine bomber. It was called Project APHRODITE.

Kennedy’s job was to get the ship airborne from its airfield in Great Britain, point it toward Europe, and bail out over the countryside. Sounds simple, but it was anything but. It was state-of-the-art science, engineering, and warfare.

The plan was called: Operation Aphrodite. The objective was to knock out the V-2 sites along the coast of France. Developed by Werner von Braun and his team at Peenemünde, the first ballistic missiles were raining death upon London. The allies were worried that if the Nazis continued developing their super-weapons, the V-2’s descendants would be delivering bombs — possibly atomic — to New York City.

Joe Kennedy’s plane was among a few Liberators and Flying Fortresses modified for a very early version of remote control. The ship, basically, was a flying bomb. The entire fuselage was filled with Torpex and gelignite, IIRC, and was to be armed by a rather elaborate, if not dangerous, electronic arming panel.

Like something out of Buck Rogers, the Navy equipped the airplane with a primitive 2-channel remote-control pilot. One radio signal could make the plane dive and climb and another signal could make it turn left and right. A prototype video camera would also send information to the Mother Ship, where the remote pilot sat before a tiny TV monitor.

Once Kennedy and his fellow volunteer pilots were needed to get the flying bombs airborne. One over the English countryside, scientists and engineers would take over and signal on two radio frequencies: One to turn the stick RIGHT or LEFT; or push the stick FORWARD or pull the stick BACK. Primitive today, they were the first remote-controlled weapon of mass destruction.

Joe Kennedy and the other volunteer pilots and bombadiers also were needed to arm the weapon. One aloft, they were to turn on the radio-guidance controls, arm the flying bomb, and bail out at about ONE THOUSAND FEET. The Mother Ship would follow two miles or so back and then fly it over the English Channel and guide it down into the rocket launch sites.

The tragedy was that the Navy ship used a rather primitive arming panel. The co-pilot refused to fly and instead the Navy sent aloft the engineer who designed or installed the system. Over the English countryside, the ship exploded, killing the two flyers and changing American political history. Joe's younger brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy then became the heir to the family's political ambitions.

History shows JFK made an outstanding President. He saved the world from nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He stretched mankind’s reach to the moon, never living himself to see the impossible accomplished. He even used the NAZI rocket scientist who developed the V-2 to do so. The same von Braun who the allied air command sent his lost brother, Joseph, to destroy.



# # #

Two outstanding books on the subject of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and his service in World War II:

“Aphrodite: Desperate Mission” by Jack Olsen

and

“The Lost Prince: Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy” by Hank Searls.

PS: Thanks for reminding us of today, October. I really appreciate it.

[AP]

2. thesmokinggun.com had the medal of honor documents on this

a while back and they were truly amazing.

I don't know what kind of character JFK had before this event, but he really diplayed incredible character with this, and you can totally see how America was lucky to have a president with that kind of character.