Kennedy Island (local name Kasolo Island, also known as Plum Pudding Island), is a 1.17 hectares (2.9 acres), uninhabited island in Solomon Islands that was named after John F. Kennedy, following an incident involving Kennedy during his World War II naval career. Kennedy Island lies 15 minutes by boat from Gizo, the provincial capital of the Western Province of Solomon Islands. [1]
The island is notable for its role in the story of PT-109, part of the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. In August 1943, it was to this island that the crew of the ship, commanded by then Lieutenant Kennedy, swam after their craft was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. Two American sailors died in the incident. [2] Kennedy later had the crew swim to the larger Olasana Island [3] where they were found and helped by Melanesian scouts, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, dispatched by coastwatcher Reg Evans.
A small shrine to Kennedy, built by Solomon Islander Eroni Kumana who aided in the rescue of the crew, stands on the island. [4] [5]
The island remains uninhabited, but is a tourist attraction. [6] In 2003, a race was held where participants re-enacted Kennedy's swim. [3]
Previously a public area, it was acquired in 2004 at a cost of SI$7000 (US$950) by Joseph Douglas, an advisor to then Caretaker Premier of Western Province Clement Base. [6] [7] The legality of the sale was the subject of a legal challenge. [6] [7] In 2009, Douglas sold Kennedy Island to Gizo Hotel (owned by Australian Shane Kennedy), [8] one year after brother Dan Kennedy purchased the resort closest to Kennedy Island (Fatboys on Mbabanga Island). [9]
In August 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Australia and daughter of President Kennedy Caroline Kennedy and her son Jack Schlossberg recreated part of President Kennedy’s historic swim following the sinking of PT-109. Joined by a team of Solomon Islander swimmers, the Ambassador and Jack swam about 1.2km between Naru and Olasana Islands — a passage that President Kennedy swam multiple times in the days after the sinking of PT-109 to bring his crew supplies and communicate with the Solomon Scouts. [10]
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in the Melanesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. This page is about the history of the nation state rather than the broader geographical area of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which covers both Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, a province of Papua New Guinea. For the history of the archipelago not covered here refer to the former administration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the North Solomon Islands and the History of Bougainville.
PT-109 was an 80-foot Elco PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, future United States president, in the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions in saving his surviving crew after PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer earned him several commendations and made him a war hero. Back problems stemming from the incident required months of hospitalization at Chelsea Naval Hospital and plagued him the rest of his life. Kennedy's postwar campaigns for elected office referred often to his service on PT-109.
Kolombangara is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the nation state of Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is "Water Lord" with approximately 80 rivers and streams running down its flanks.
PT 109 is a 1963 American Technicolor Panavision biographical war film depicting the actions of John F. Kennedy as an officer of the United States Navy in command of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 in the Pacific theater of World War II. The film was adapted by Vincent Flaherty and Howard Sheehan from the book PT 109: John F. Kennedy in World War II by Robert J. Donovan, and the screenplay was written by Richard L. Breen. Cliff Robertson stars as Kennedy, and the film features performances by Ty Hardin, James Gregory, Robert Culp and Grant Williams.
The Battle of Blackett Strait was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on 6 March 1943 in the Blackett Strait, between Kolombangara and Arundel Island in the Solomon Islands. The battle was a chance encounter between two Japanese destroyers that had been undertaking a resupply run to Vila and a U.S. Navy force of three light cruisers and three destroyers that had been tasked with bombarding the Japanese shore facilities around Vila. The two forces clashed as the Japanese destroyers were withdrawing through the Kula Gulf. In the short battle that followed the two Japanese destroyers were sunk, after which the U.S. ships completed their bombardment of Vila before returning to their base.
Western Province is the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. The area is renowned for its beautiful tropical islands, excellent diving and snorkelling, coral reefs and World War II wrecks, ecotourism lodges, and head-hunting shrines. The province contains many small lagoons and most of the country's tourist trade outside Honiara.
The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II to observe enemy movements and rescue stranded Allied personnel. They played a significant role in the Pacific Ocean theatre and South West Pacific theatre, particularly as an early warning network during the Guadalcanal campaign.
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first established in June 1893, when Captain Herbert Gibson of HMS Curacoa declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate.
Blackett Strait is a waterway in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies between the islands of Kolombangara to the north, and Arundel Island (Kohinggo) to the south. It connects Vella Gulf to the west with Kula Gulf to the east. It is almost certainly named after Lt. Frederick Arthur Blackett (1846-1880), the youngest son of Sir Edward Blackett 6th Bt., who served on HMS Thalia as part of the China Station from 1872 to 1873.
Gizo is the capital of the Western Province in Solomon Islands. With a population of 7,177, it is the third largest town in the country. It is situated on Ghizo Island approximately 380 kilometres west-northwest of the capital, Honiara, and is just southwest of the larger island of Kolombangara.
Rendova is an island in Western Province, in the independent nation of Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific, east of Papua New Guinea.
Arthur Reginald Evans, DSC was an Australian coastwatcher in the Pacific Ocean theatre in World War II. He is chiefly remembered for having played a significant part in the rescue of future US President John F. Kennedy and his surviving crew after their motor torpedo boat, PT-109, was sunk by the Japanese in August 1943.
Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana were Solomon Islanders of Melanesian descent who found John F. Kennedy and his surviving PT-109 crew following the boat's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on 1 August 1943. They were from the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.
"PT-109" is a 1962 song by Jimmy Dean about the combat service of John F. Kennedy and the crew of the PT-109 in World War II. The boat was famous even before Kennedy ran for office, because Kennedy and most of the crew had survived after it was rammed and cut in two by a Japanese destroyer. After several days on a tiny uninhabited island, Kennedy and the crew were rescued by two native Solomon Islanders—Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, part of an allied Coastwatchers team led by Australian Reg Evans—although the islanders are not mentioned in the song.
The Search for Kennedy's PT 109 is a National Geographic television special and video on DVD, directed by Peter Getzels. It documents the true story of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 from World War II, and the successful search for the ship by Dr. Robert Ballard.
PT-59 / PTGB-1 was an S-Class Patrol Torpedo boat of the United States Navy, built by the Electric Launch Company of Bayonne, New Jersey. The boat was laid down as Motor Boat Submarine Chaser PTC-27, and was reclassified as BPT-11 when assigned to transfer to Britain under Lend-Lease. However, this was cancelled, and she was reclassified as PT-59 prior to launch on 8 October 1941, and was completed on 5 March 1942.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy is an American lawyer and author. He is the ninth child of former United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, and he is a nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.
Naru Island is a small island in the New Georgia Islands of Western Province, Solomon Islands, lying to the southeast of Gizo. About 600 metres long and up to 300 metres wide. Coastline is about 1,65 km.
Olasana Island is a 7.93 hectare, uninhabited island in the New Georgia Islands, in Western Province, in the independent nation of Solomon Islands. The island is primarily notable for its role in the events after the sinking of PT-109 involving future American president John F. Kennedy.
PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy is a non-fiction book by best-selling author William Doyle released by Harper-Collins in 2015 that describes the ramming and sinking of future President John F. Kennedy's Patrol Torpedo Boat 109 by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the coast of Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Island Chain on August 2, 1943. The book also chronicles the crew's difficult three mile swim to Plum Pudding Island and the subsequent week of living there and on adjacent Olasana Island until Patrol Torpedo Boat PT-157 rescued them on August 8. The novel also discusses the considerable impact the experience had in helping to launch Kennedy's political career, beginning with his election to the House of Representatives in 1946. JFK's aid David Powers has written, "without PT 109, there never would have been a President John F. Kennedy".
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : US Embassy and Consulates in Australia 
