He Saved JFK's Life-- Part 3: Thinks Looking Very Bleak

For six days, Kennedy and his crew waited on that island and subsisted on coconuts and hope.

Kennedy didn't just wait, though.  He tried moving his crew to another island.  He tried swimming into the ocean at night with the idea of being able to intercept another PT boat.

But, back on the island where he was stationed, leaders assumed that the explosion of the PT-109 had left no survivors.  No rescue boat was coming.  The man who was to become the 35th president, at this point, seemed destined to live but a few more days.

As fortune would have it, the Americans were spotted by two Pacific islanders passing by in a canoe.  Erono Kumana and Biuku Gasawere were two of the many people enlisted by Western forces to help fight the war against the Japanese.  Kennedy, however, couldn't be sure who they were fighting for but knew there was a chance they might be headed for a place occupied by the Allies.

He just needed a way to get a message through to them.

--GreGen