Remembering November 22, 1963

A moment in time, when history was made. Sixty years ago, on November 22, a landmark event in U.S history would etch in the mind of many. It was then that the world heard the news from Dallas, TX.

The year was 1963, and it was on this day that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. Riding in the motorcade through the streets of Dallas, he was making stops and appearances in his campaign for re-election that his life ended. JFK died at 12:30 PM on November 22, 1963.

With month November being the month we honor Veterans, and being the 60th anniversary of his tragic death, we provide this moment of remembrance as a tribute to him.

While in the US Navy, Kennedy's boat was PT-109, a patrol torpedo boat operating off the Solomon Islands. The PT boats were designed to be small, fast and cheap to build, yet packing a punch with Mark-8 torpedoes and .50-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The glaring problem with the Navy's PT fleet was unfortunate, in that its torpedoes often didn't work as planned, such as the crew of PT-109 found out one night in 1943.

The man that was to be a president was almost rejected for naval service. Kennedy had a long history of illness and injury as a child, some of which followed him into adulthood. Many of his ailments made him potentially, due to their severity, unfit for military service. The most apparent of these was his chronic back pain, for which he eventually underwent at least four major surgeries throughout his life.

On top of his back issues, as an adult, he suffered from asthma, ulcers and Addison's disease, an adrenal condition that affects bodily hormones and blood pressure. Still, as a Kennedy, his father pulled some strings, with influence and discretion, to get him into the US Navy in 1940.

By April of 1943, Lt. Kennedy was stationed in the Solomon Islands, taking command of PT-109 and the 12 other crewmen aboard. Their primary mission was to patrol the straits between the islands and disrupt the nightly supply runs made by Japanese destroyers in the region, an operation the Allies dubbed "the Tokyo Express."

It was on Aug. 1, 1943, 15 patrol torpedo boats were deployed to intercept four Tokyo Express destroyers which were trying to reinforce the Japanese position on Kolombangara Island. The patrol divided into four attack squadrons, the PT boats had 60 torpedoes to shoot at the destroyers, however, things went wrong almost immediately.

When the Americans had missed the Japanese flotilla by an hour, the enemy position was successfully resupplied. The PT boats were scheduled to hit the Tokyo Express on its return voyage as darkness in the still of the night over came them and as quiet swept over them in the early morning hours. When the PT boats that did encounter the Japanese found their targets, they fired their torpedoes as planned. Not a single one exploded, which was the primary issue with Mark-8 torpedoes at that point in the war. This left very few alternatives.

Only four of the boats had radar to use in the coming night attack, and when they fired off their torpedoes, they returned to base. This left the remaining boats with no way of finding their targets, and an order for radio silence compounded the confusion. Those that didn't have radar to locate the enemy ships would end up drifting around in the dark, like "ships lost at sea."

As the night drifted on, Kennedy idled the engines of his boat. This measure was to reduce its wake and visibility from any potential spotter planes. At around 2 a.m., they noticed the Japanese destroyer, Amagiri, coming right at them at full speed, lights out. With a great impact, the warship hit PT-109 on its starboard side. It cut the boat in two.

As in a chain reaction, the fuel aboard the boat launched a fireball into the air. It lit up the night sky, which had been silent until the encounter. Two of the crewmen aboard were killed instantly, and two others were thrown into the ocean. The other boats in the squadron tried to fire at the Amagiri. Unfortunately, two of their torpedoes missed, and with two others failing to fire at all, the decision was made and the crew returned to base without checking for survivors.

Kennedy dove into the flaming water surrounding the wreck of PT-109 and pulled three crewmen aboard what was left of their boat. The Amagiri departed the scene, needing to return to port before American spotter aircraft could begin searching for any ships at dawn. Kennedy and his 10 remaining crew held on to the floating bow of PT-109 for the next 12 hours, which felt like an eternity, leaving little assurance of being rescued.

They drifted toward Plum Pudding Island, a small uninhabited island, about 3.5 miles from their position as the sun rose that morning. Clinging to a log used as a gun mount, which became their safety raft, most of the crew collectively kicked its way to the island. One of the survivors, Machinist's Mate 1st Class Patrick McMahon, was critically wounded. With burns over 70% of his body, he was unable to swim.

He was put in a life jacket, and Kennedy, with the strap of the life jacket clenched between the jaws of his teeth, swam his crewman to the safety of the island. This journey was a four-hour effort. Though great strides had been made, and the crew was safe from drowning, Plum Pudding Island offered neither food or water.

Kennedy's swimming ability became critically important for the next few days. Dealing with his chronic back pain, he swam to try to hail passing American PT boats. He then led the men, obviously hungry and thirsty, to Olasana Island, nearly a four-mile swim, where they could fast on coconuts.

Kennedy made the trip with McMahon's life-vest strap in his mouth once more, swimming to Naru Island with another crewman. There they found an abandoned canoe with some food and a drum of water left by the Japanese. Kennedy paddled the canoe to his men on Olasana. They subsisted on a few coconuts for the six days they were there. They captured food, and caught was caught rainwater on leaves.

It was two native Melanesians, who had been trained as coastwatchers by the Allies, who were dispatched to look for survivors of a Japanese shipwreck. These islanders could move freely during the day as they were dismissed readily by the Japanese passing as native fishermen. Then on Aug. 5, they discovered the survivors of the fateful PT-109.

Kennedy and his executive officer, Ensign Leonard Jay Thom, both made messages for their command. Thom scrawled his on a slip of paper with a pencil. Kennedy etched one out on the skin of a coconut. The coastwatchers got the messages to the right people, and the crew was rescued on Aug. 8.

Kennedy was hailed as a hero who had returned from the dead. Though PT-109's officers had all been instrumental in their survival, the media focused on Kennedy, who was the son of the famous businessman and former ambassador to the United Kingdom. Though he returned to duty after being presented with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and Purple Heart the incident exacerbated his pre-existing and ongoing health problems.

When John F. Kennedy was asked about what he did to become a hero in the Pacific War in 1943, he replied by saying, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat." That sounds like a viable reason.

John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th President of the US, and was also the youngest man ever elected to the office.

He married Jacqueline Bouvier and they had four children; a still born daughter, Arbella, Caroline, John, Jr., and a son, who died shortly after birth, Patrick.

Following the tragic assassination in Dallas, the body of the President laid in state, with a closed casket, due to the immense damage of the fatal bullets he had received. His young children did not attend the funeral, however they attended the passing caisson as their father went by. This moment in time is believed to be where the famous picture of John, Jr., was taken as he saluted his father, it would be the final time he would have the opportunity to do so.

Perhaps this moment in time is one similar to the ones making history, such as Ruby Bridges, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; the Walk on the Moon, the fatal Challenger Mission, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the epic 9-11 tragedy. They are moments in history that cannot be erased, only set side as were the monuments. Some things should not be forgotten.

They are what makes America what it is. We have our military and veterans to thank for our freedom and liberties. Thank you, one and all.