JOHN F. KENNEDY signed "PT 109" 1962 book inscribed Very Best Wishes. PT-109 was a patrol torpedo boat last commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy, future United States president, in the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific theater during World War II. His actions in saving his surviving crew after PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer made him a war hero. At 2 a.m. on 2 August 1943, PT-109 was ordered to continue patrolling the area on orders previously radioed from Commander Warfield. The night was cloudy and moonless, and fog had set amidst the remaining PTs. Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid the detection of her phosphorescent wake by Japanese aircraft when the crew realized they were in the path of the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which was heading north to Rabaul from Vila Plantation, Kolombangara, after offloading supplies and 902 soldiers. Kennedy said he attempted to turn PT-109 to fire a torpedo and have Ensign George "Barney" Ross fire their newly installed 37 mm anti-tank gun from the bow at the oncoming northbound destroyer Amagiri. Ross lifted a shell but did not have time to load it into the closed breech of the weapon that Kennedy hoped might deter the oncoming vessel. Amagiri was traveling at a relatively high speed of between 23 and 40 knots (43 and 74 km/h; 26 and 46 mph) in order to reach harbor by dawn, when Allied air patrols were likely to appear. Kennedy and his crew had less than ten seconds to get the engines up to speed and evade the oncoming destroyer, which was advancing without running lights, but the PT boat was run down and severed between Kolombangara and Ghizo Island, near 8°3′S 156°56′E. The 109 was struck on her starboard side at a 20-degree angle, shearing off a piece of the boat. By about 1 p.m., on 2 August, it was apparent that the hull was taking on water and would soon sink, so the men decided to swim for land, departing around 1:30 p.m. As there were Japanese camps on all the nearby large islands including Kolombangara, the closest, they chose the tiny deserted Plum Pudding Island southwest of where the bow section had drifted. They placed their lantern, shoes, and non-swimmers on one of the timbers that had been used as a gun mount and began kicking together to propel it. Kennedy, who had been on the Harvard University swim team, used a life jacket strap clenched between his teeth to tow McMahon. It took four hours to swim to the island, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away, which they reached without encountering sharks or crocodiles. The rescue of PT-109 was a long process, largely achieved by the work of native Solomon Island scouts who first located Kennedy and his crew. This item comes with a letter of authenticity issued by Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators along with the GFA guarantee of authenticity.

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