Captain  Lt(jg) John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Crew  Ensign Leonard Thom (Sandusky, OH)
Crew  Seaman 2nd Class Raymond Albert (Akron, OH)
Radio  John McGuire
Gunner  Raymand Starkey (CA)
Gunner  MOMM2c Harold W Marney, 2127352 (Chiopee, MA) (MIA)
Crew  TM2c Andrew John Kirksey, 6366765 (MIA)
Crew  Gerald Zinser
Crew  William Johnson
Crew  Charles Harris
Crew  Patrick "Pappy" McMahon
37mm  Ensign George Ross

Ship History
Built July 1942 at Bayonne, New Jersey. Laid down on March 4, 1942, the seventh PT boat built at the facility. Delivered to the US Navy on July 10, 1942 and outfitted at the New York Naval Shipyard at Brooklyn.

First assigned to PT Boat training center at Melville, Rhode Island. Ferried across the Pacific by transport ship to Noumea, and then towed to Guadalcanal. John F. Kennedy assumed command of her in April 1943.

Sinking History
Part of a 15 PT-Boat patrol that departed Rendova at 4pm on August 1 to patrol the Kolombangara area.  PT-109 patrolled with PT-157, 159 and 162 of Division B.

Meanwhile, Japanese Destroyer Amagiri, part of the 'Tokyo Express' from Rabaul that was bound for Vila, Kolombangara to off-load 912 soldiers and supplies. After completing its mission it was heading back towards Rabaul. While in the Blacket Straight at 1:30am on August 2, 1943. Amagiri rammed PT-109, sinking it.

Survival And Rescue
The crew of PT-109 clung to the wreckage of the bow. Two were killed in the collision. At dawn the remaining crew swam to a small island (Plum Pudding Island) and Kennedy towed the wounded McMahon by his life vest strap in his teeth. Several days passed and the men moved south to Nauro Island. The sinking was observed by coastwatcher 'Reg' Evans, who sent for scouts to search for survivors. before Solomon Islanders: Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana located them.  Kennedy trusted them with a message, scratched into a coconut shell, that got to Evans.  Their rescue was coordinated by PT-157 that took the crew back to Rendova.

Wreckage
In 2002, Robert Ballart searched for the wreck. A piece of wreckage in the Blacket Straight was identified as a torpedo tube from a PT-Boat, and claimed to be from PT-109.

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