Panorama newsletter article, Employee Recalls War-Time Rescue of Future President, 4 December 1961
This item is a Panorama newsletter article about Ted Robinson, a former executive officer of PT-118 who assisted in the rescue of the crew of PT-109.
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OCR Page 1 of 2Employee Recalls War-Time Rescue of Future President
By MARGO SMITH
We found none. We couldn't even find any
"We saw the explosion of his boat. It was
wreckage.
"We held funeral services for the crew of
the biggest I have ever seen.
PT 109 back at the base and informed Joseph
Ted Robinson, Sacramento traffic engineer
and former executive officer of PT boat 118,
Kennedy, ambassador to England, that his son
had died. I went to the funeral."
was reliving one of his World War II exper-
The war in the Pacific was getting hotter by
lences.
the minute, and Robinson and the rest of the
The explosion he witnessed occurred in the
men in PT squadrons 5, 6, 9, and 10, plagued
Pacific when a Japanese destroyer split PT 109
by frequent Japanese bomber attacks, didn't
in half. The explosion was significant, however,
have much time to mourn their lost friends.
not for its size, but because the skipper of PT
About a week or so after PT 109's demise, a
109 was Lieutenant, j.g., John Fitzgerald Ken-
native staggered into the PT operations hut
nedy - future congressman, future President
with a message carved on a coconut shell.
- but in 1943 a Navy man fighting for his life.
"It's been 18 years," Robinson said, "but I
The future leader of our nation was in the
remember it saying, 'we are still alive. We think
same PT command as Robinson and was one of
we are near Arundel Island. Kennedy.'
many friends Robinson made in the service.
Using natives as messengers between Ken-
\
"We figured," Robinson continued, "no one
nedy and the operations post, a rendezvous was
could live through that blast, but we did go
finally agreed upon.
out the next few nights to look for survivors.
(Continued on Page 3)
SOUTHERN DIVISION
INLAND DIVISION
NORTHERN
DIVISION
PANORAMA
of Pacific Telephone's Northern Counties Area
JOHN F. KENNEDY
TED ROBINSON
to his funeral."
"I went
Volume 2, Number 23
Sacramento, California, Monday, December 4, 1961
Published Twice Monthly
-