Customer Reviews

Collision With History: The Search For John F. Kennedy's PT 109

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Dr. Ballard lives in Lyme Connecticut, 10 miles from where I live. I saw this book in a local bookstore window this weekend, and realized that he was coming to town in 4 days to speak on the subject. Being a history buff, and certainly a Kennedy history buff, I bought the book (locally, so that he would sign it for free!), and read it last night. It's a short read, with only one or two chapters covering the actual exploration for the PT-109. The rest of the book contains Kennedy family history dating back to the Kennedy's in Boston from 1850. There was a nice chapter on the Solomon Islands, the local people, the influence of Western culture, and the culture today. There was also nice information on the crash that proves that the Hollywood movie on PT-109 took some liberties concerning his rescue of marines on a beach ... go figure ... Hollywood taking liberties...

The bottom line ... I believe Ballard has found the PT boat ... even though he couldn't quite prove it ... The fact a future president's boat was lost in this region has left a closeness with the locals towards the United States ... and the two local's that discovered Kennedy and his crew are still alive and still very much influenced by their part in history. This will be Ballard's last modern historical ship find ... after this he will move on to work on the Black Sea project ... I'm glad he found John Kennedy's boat before he moved on. Read the book

Dr. Ballard lives in Lyme Connecticut, 10 miles from where I live. I saw this book in a local bookstore window this weekend, and realized that he was coming to town in 4 days to speak on the subject. Being a history buff, and certainly a Kennedy history buff, I bought the book (locally, so that he would sign it for free!), and read it last night. It's a short read, with only one or two chapters covering the actual exploration for the PT-109. The rest of the book contains Kennedy family history dating back to the Kennedy's in Boston from 1850. There was a nice chapter on the Solomon Islands, the local people, the influence of Western culture, and the culture today. There was also nice information on the crash that proves that the Hollywood movie on PT-109 took some liberties concerning his rescue of marines on a beach ... go figure ... Hollywood taking liberties...

The bottom line ... I believe Ballard has found the PT boat ... even though he couldn't quite prove it ... The fact a future president's boat was lost in this region has left a closeness with the locals towards the United States ... and the two local's that discovered Kennedy and his crew are still alive and still very much influenced by their part in history. This will be Ballard's last modern historical ship find ... after this he will move on to work on the Black Sea project ... I'm glad he found John Kennedy's boat before he moved on. Read the book.

Robert Ballard has made history with his discoveries of sunken ships. At the same time, he has set the standard for how such wrecks should be handled; or, more precisely how they should not be handled.

In this short book, Ballard takes us throught the mission that saw a US patrol torpedo boat split in half by a Japanese destroyer and its crew left - and probabaly hoped to be so by their enemies - dead. That wasn't the case. Most survived and were able to get themselves to an island where help arrived and returned them to their bases. Most of us have read the story and/or seen the movie, so I'm won't discuss what happened. That's becuse it's not what this book is about.

Using techniques that have served him in the past - analysis of extant records; high-tech equipment; dogged dtermination and luck - Ballard and his comrades were able to locate portions of the PT-109. They elected - in view of the fact the wreck most certainly a war grave - not to disturb the site. Doing so, would have been wrong, although it would have provided 100% certainty. The other stunning thing about this story - the first and more important being the touching way the wreck site was recorded for subsequent vieiwng by the Kennedy family - was the discovery itself. The PT-109 was a 60 foot plywood vessel that had been bisected in the collision. This meant that instead of several hundred feet of steel reacting to sonar and magnetic serach equipment, the Ballard team were looking/hoping to get hits off far, far smaller objects. In the end, it was a torpedo tube - an item that was, perhaps, 15 feet long and two feet wide - that gave back a signal.

One fine story and the vessel, the crew and the decency of those who found the site.

BREATHTAKING A THRILL A MINUTE THE SEARCH FOR A REAL PIECE OF HISTORY

I think this is a needed book. Ballard details a short biography of JFK and then shows how his courageous performance after the collision reflected on his leadership qualities. It also shows and debunks the notion of Kennedy's performance with the Japanese destroyer. That night was dark, the other PT boats with radar had been sent back to base, and nobody warned PT109 of the approach of the Japanese destroyer. This book may upset conservatives commentators who still hold a grudge against Kennedy. His performance with leading his men to rescue shows the true courage of Kennedy. His carried one badly burned man on a long swim to an island refuge.

Ballard details the discovery of the remaining wreakage of PT109. He also details the present conflict in the Solomon Islands. This is a great book that details the courage of a future president and the remains of his patrol boat.

The book tells us about what happened to John F Kennedy during World War two, how the Japanese sank his boat, so how he became a hero. There is a short biography( 1917-1940) too, with cute photos. There was a nice chapter on the Solomon Islands, the local people, the influence of Western culture, and the culture today. I suggest it to all Jack Kennedy fans or not.