JFK assumes command of PT-109 in the Solomon Islands 70 years ago today (1943)


Video: 'PT 109'

(Friday, April 23, 1943, part of the Pacific Theater of World War II) — U.S. Navy Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy assumed command today of PT-109, a motor torpedo boat, in the Solomon Islands during World War II. On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, the Amagiri, killing two crew members; the future U.S. president and 10 others managed to survive.