Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, USNR (
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, USNR (standing at right) With other crewmen on board USS PT-109, 1943.
Naval History and Heritage Command

Courage and Tenacity: JFK, USN

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2022
Naval History Magazine
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JFK
Though initially rejected for military service, a young John F. Kennedy was eventually commissioned in the Navy, where he went on to captain PT-109 and, later, PTGB-1. As skipper of PTGB-1, he facilitated the storied rescue of Brute Krulak’s Second Marine Parachute Battalion in Choiseul Bay. Credit: Naval History and Heritage Command 

The story of John F. Kennedy’s World War II exploits while in command of PT-109 are well known, but the rest of his time in the U.S. Navy has not received much attention. How he became a naval officer, and what he did before and after his time in command of PT-109, tells us much about this future U.S. president.

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