Profile in Courage - PT109 1943

At the height of the battle for control of New Georgia, and more specifically the reduction of the powerful Japanese airbase at Munda, the US Navy established a base for Patrol Torpedo (PT) Boats on Rendova island. The Japanese, desperately intent on clinging to their position at Munda, were operating a steady line of supplies and troops that staged out of Rabaul. Using barges, and Destroyers of the Tokyo Express, the Japanese poured troops and supplies down “the Slot”, first to Vila on Kolombangara, and then on to Munda in New Georgia. It was the PT Boats at Rendova that were tasked the dangerous mission of patrolling each night in the Blackett Strait, where they tried to disrupt this Japanese supply line. One of the young PT-Boat skippers was 26-year-old Lt. John F. Kennedy of PT 109.