Exactly one year later to the day, JFK would be given his first command, the patrol torpedo boat PT-101. However, on April 24, 1943, when he took command of PT-109, just over three months later on the moonlit evening of August 1, he and his crew would suffer a massive catastrophe. While trying to attack the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, it would ram his boat, cutting it in half and killing two of his crew.
The crewmen swam towards Plum Pudding Island 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southwest of where their boat had just been destroyed. Despite his chronic back pain being made worse by the collision, Kennedy clenched the life jacket strap of a badly burned crew member in his teeth and towed him to shore.
Three days later, he would do the exact same thing in order to save another badly burned crewman, motor machinist “Pappy” MacMahon, towing him to the shore of Olasana Island. They would be rescued on August 8, 1943. For his outstanding bravery, Kennedy would earn the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
