NAVY LOG: PT-109 (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series based on the real adventures of the United States Navy. In this episode, in August 1943, young skipper John F. Kennedy and his men are thrown into the sea near the New Georgia Islands after a Japanese destroyer, Amagiri, collides with their ship, the PT-109. Stuck on a floating raft, the men decide to swim for one of the small nearby islands, aware that they are likely surrounded by enemy troops. Kennedy uses his skills as a former Harvard University swimmer to tow an injured man, McMahon, the entire three miles. Once on the island, they realize that they do not have sufficient food and water, so Kennedy organizes watch shifts and prepares to swim out to alert the patrol boat. Back at the Rendova Island base, the officers sadly begin writing letters to the families of the PT-109 crew, believing that they all died in the collision.
The patrol boat fails to arrive, and Kennedy swims against the strong current back to his men on the island. They attempt to survive on unripe coconuts, but as McMahon's condition worsens, two of the other men swim to the nearby Naru in search of rations. They soon encounter a pair of "friendly natives" in a canoe, sent by a nearby Australian coastwatcher, and Kennedy quickly carves a message into a coconut and asks the natives to deliver it to Rendova. The Australian scouts find them and bring them to the PT-157, and the survivors are soon rescued thanks to their leader's quick thinking. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:26
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 120468
- GENRE: Drama, action/adventure
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, action/adventure; United States Navy
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1956; ABC - 1956-1958
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Sam Gallu … Producer, Director
- Allan E. Sloane … Writer
- John Baer … Cast, John F. Kennedy
- Patrick Waltz … Cast, Ross
- Peter Miller … Cast, McQuire
- John Close … Cast, McMahon
- Joel Smith … Cast, Johnston
- Skip Killmond … Cast, Harris
- Tom Wilde … Cast, Commandant
- Clark Howat … Cast, Chaplain
- David Waldor … Cast, Ensign Thom
- David Frankham … Cast, Lieutenant
- Don Blackman … Cast, Native #1
- Anthony Ghazlo … Cast, Native #2
- Robert Carson … Cast, Narrator