Eroni Kumana, a Solomon Islander who was credited with saving the lives of then-Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy and his PT-109 crew members after their boat was destroyed by a Japanese warship during World War II, died Aug. 2. He was 93, according to an announcement by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston. Other details about the death of Mr. Kumana, who lived on the island of Ranongga in the Solomons’ western province, were not immediately available. 71 yrs years ago, during the early morning hrs of Aug. 2, 1943, the future President Kennedy was the skipper of a patrol torpedo boat cruising the waters of the Blackett Strait, along the route of the so-called Tokyo Express supply convoy, when his craft was struck by a Japanese destroyer. 2 U.S. crew members died in the collision. 11 others - incl Kennedy & a mate he would tow to safety by holding the man’s life-jacket strap in his mouth - swam for hrs before finding refuge on Plum Pudding Island. Their ordeal would last for nearly a wk. Despite his exhaustion & injured back, Kennedy ventured into the waters again in a vain search for Allied vessels that might be able to rescue his stranded crew. Suffering from thirst & hunger, he & his men later swam to the larger Olasana island, where they hoped to sustain themselves with coconuts. Meanwhile, an Australian coast watcher had sent local scouts to look for survivors from PT-109. Many native islanders harbored deep enmity toward the Japanese & assisted the Allies by acting as guides, supporting rescue efforts & monitoring enemy movement. Mr. Kumana & another scout, Biuku Gasa, 1st spotted Kennedy & another serviceman on Aug. 5 on Naru Island, where the 2 Americans had gone in search of food, water & aid. The islanders mistook Kennedy & his fellow sailor for Japanese & fled. We ran to the canoe, Mr. Kumana said in an oral history cited by National Geographic, & paddled to Olasana. There, they found the remaining members of Kennedy’s crew. Some of them cried, & some came & shook our hands, Mr. Kumana recalled. Kennedy arrived later and embraced the natives, Gasa said. With few tools to record a message, Kennedy was delighted when Gasa suggested that he carve a note in a coconut. Mr. Kumana picked one from a tree. NAURO ISL ... COMMANDER ... NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT ... HE CAN PILOT ... 11 ALIVE ... NEED SMALL BOAT ... KENNEDY, read the skipper’s message. Mr. Kumana & Gasa made a nearly 40-mile journey by canoe to an Allied outpost & delivered Kennedy’s carved message. The 2 scouts then assisted in the rescue mission that brought the crew to safety on Aug. 8. “I was young, but I wasn’t scared,” Mr. Kumana said, according to National Geographic. Kennedy kept his engraved coconut & used it in the Oval Office as a paperweight. He had invited the 2 islanders to his inauguration, according to accounts, but they were unable to make the trip. Mr. Kumana had hoped to see Kennedy again & was devastated to learn of his assassination in 1963. My sadness was great. I would never meet him again. In later yrs, Mr. Kumana largely faded into obscurity. In 2002, a National Geographic crew searching for the wreckage of PT-109 found Mr. Kumana. Traveling with the crew was Max Kennedy, a son of President Kennedy’s brother Robert. The president’s nephew said that he spoke to Mr. Kumana through the translation of the islander’s son - who was named John F. Kennedy. Mr. Kumana had absolutely risked his life & risked a horribly painful death by paddling through these islands, Max Kennedy said in an interview with The Washington Post. It’s an extraordinary thing for a young man to do that.... My whole life growing up I had heard about these 2 men who saved Uncle Jack. In 2007, representatives of the U.S. Navy honored Mr. Kumana for what he had done. This is an individual who has had a very significant role in the history of our nation and the world, Navy Secretary Donald Winter said at the time. It was an honor to meet the man who rescued the future 35th American president. Gasa, the other islander, is reported to have died in 2005. To honor Kennedy, Mr. Kumana presented a prized piece of shell to the former president’s family. The gift was placed on the Kennedy grave site at Arlington National Cemetery & is now part of the museum in Boston. Mr. Kumana also built a stone monument to the president, whom he considered an honorary chief, at his island home. The chiefship of Kennedy will remain here, even after I die, Mr. Kumana said during the National Geographic expedition, strong as ever, as hard as this rock.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 04:10:28 +0000
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