Caroline Kennedy recreates her father JFK’s heroic swim in World War II

() – Eighty years ago, then-US Navy lieutenant and future US president John F. Kennedy heroically swam between Pacific islands to help save the crew of his torpedo boat that had been destroyed by a Japanese warship during World War II.

Kennedy’s heroism as commander of a PT-109 boat helped lay the groundwork for a military and leadership record that would help him be elected the 35th president of the United States in 1960.

On Wednesday, his daughter Caroline Kennedy, now the US ambassador to Australia, recreated part of her father’s feat, swimming about 1.2 kilometres in about 30 minutes between two small palm-fringed islets in the Solomon Islands.

“It gave me a renewed appreciation for the heroism of my father and his crew,” the ambassador said in a post on the U.S. Embassy Twitter account, now known as X.

Kennedy, 65, made the swim with his son, the late president’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg.

“I have so much appreciation and admiration for what my grandfather did, and the perseverance it must have taken to survive,” Schlossberg said in a Twitter post.

JFK’s torpedo boat PT-109 was struck by an Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer in the early morning darkness of August 1, 1943. The small wooden-hulled boat was torn apart by the Japanese ship and capsized. Kennedy gathered his surviving crew, 11 of the 13 aboard PT-109, and put them to sea by swimming 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the tiny Plum Pudding Island, which now bears his name.

In the days that followed, according to an account in his presidential library, JFK and his crew would swim to nearby islands, including Olasana and Naru, in search of food and rescue. The swim between Olasana and Naru, which his father made several times, was reenacted by Ambassador Kennedy on Wednesday.

Eventually, the crew of PT-109 would receive assistance from two islanders, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, who were Allied scouts and put Kennedy in touch with the U.S. Navy.

On Aug. 8, 1943, a week after PT-109 was lost, its surviving crew was back in the hands of the U.S. Navy. Kennedy was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal “for courage and leadership,” according to the presidential library’s account.

In a speech on Kennedy Island on Tuesday, the late president’s daughter greeted her father, as well as Gasa and Kumana, whose families were present.

“My son and I are honored to be able to thank you in person for what your parents did 80 years ago,” he told them.

“My father owes his life to his courage, his willingness to put himself at risk and serve his country in the battle for freedom,” the U.S. ambassador said.

And he explained why the Solomon Islands hold a special place in his heart.

“This place made President Kennedy the man he was. It was where he first experienced the responsibility of leadership – the knowledge that the lives and safety of his crew depended on him. He risked his own life to save theirs. That became the way he lived his life,” Caroline Kennedy said.

JFK was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 and later buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

On Monday, Caroline Kennedy recounted how 15 years ago she learned that Kumana had made a tribute that she wanted to place at the president’s grave.

“It turned out to be a rare and precious example of ‘personalized money’ that had been in the family for more than 100 years. Carved from a giant clam shell in ways that Western anthropologists do not fully understand, the shells are used in important ceremonies, including formal tributes to honor one’s chief,” the American diplomat said.

Gestures like Kumana’s make connections that stand the test of time, she said. And she had a gift for the islanders’ families in return.

“As a small token of our gratitude, I would like to present to you the last two PT Boat pins I have, which belonged to President Kennedy,” he said.