A really good book by a good author from WWII Richard Tregaskis who has written other books about World War Two gives a very honest account without any super accolades about the story of John F. Kennedy and the trials of PT-109/ For those of you that don’t know about it it is a fascinating read and one that felt more honest and real from the story I remember as a teen when I read. Here you have an author who was with the Marines, and soldiers so his look at the war was not from the eyes of Hollywood but as a man from war but also as someone who remembered J.F.K from Harvad and when he beat out Kennedy for a spot on the Harvad swim team. I also do not remember from the other story I read about J.F.K. staying in the Pacific and commanding another PT boat PT-59, he did have the opportunity to go home but fought to stay and fight. A very good book.

“John F. Kennedy and PT-109” eBook was published in 2016 (the original paper edition was published in 1962) and was written by Richard Tregaskis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Tregaskis). Mr. Tregaskis published over a dozen books.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in several different islands of the South Pacific during World War II.

This non-fiction novella tells about the growth of the use of PT Boats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT_boat) during the war years, as well as the exploits of then Navy Lieutenant John F. Kennedy.

It tells about the harrowing experience that Kennedy and the crew went through after their boat, PT=109, was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy let the survivors to safety, then set about to contact the US Navy to get them rescued.

I thought that this 2.5 hour read of 99 pages was interesting. I have read other accounts of the incident, but always enjoy histories of the War era. The cover art is reasonable. I give this novella a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

JFK was not just a president, he had history, and war history. Not just an icon, nor a son of a walthy family, he was a functioning soldier in the war, and made a difference