For Immediate Release: August 3, 2009
Further information: Rachel Day (617) 514-1662, rachel.day@jfklfoundation.org
Boston, MA – July 28, 2009 – The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will mark the anniversary of the August 1943 sinking of President Kennedy’s PT 109 boat by installing in the Museum a piece of “shell money” or “kustom money” given to the Kennedy family by Eroni Kumana, one of the two Solomon Islands natives who helped rescue John F. Kennedy and his PT-109 crew following the boat’s collision with a Japanese destroyer during World War II. The “kustom money” will go on display on August 5, 2009, 66 years after the day that Kumana and Kennedy first met.
Honoring Kumana’s request that the highly prized family heirloom “be placed on the grave of his chief” as a formal tribute from him, members of President Kennedy’s family gathered on November 1, 2008 at a private ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery to receive Kumana’s tribute, which was placed on President Kennedy’s grave.
The tribute, which had been in Kumana’s family for several generations, was originally given to an American by the name of Mark Roche who was visiting the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands “shell money” or “kustom money” was used to pay for a bride, buy land, for tribal reconciliation and compensation, and for honoring one’s chief. The money was made by hand out of giant clam shells and is considered very rare. Few Solomon Islanders still know how to make it and anthropologists continue to study how it was made. Larger pieces like the one placed on President Kennedy’s gravesite typically have been in the family for over 200 years.
Driven by a lifelong interest in WWII aviation history, Roche had the opportunity to visit the Solomon Islands last March where he met Eroni Kumana. Kumana, now 83, lives in Konqu Village, on Ranongga Island, where he has created a shrine with an obelisk to President Kennedy whom he appointed his honorary chief. His extended family of 30 members gathered round while Roche and Kumana visited for more than an hour. Kumana’s son, who he named after John F. Kennedy, did the interpreting. At one point Eroni ran to his hut and pulled out a bust of John F. Kennedy and cradled it as if it were a newborn.
As Roche attempted to leave, he noted that Eroni had a variety of flowers growing in his yard. Remembering that he would be in Washington within the next couple weeks, Roche asked if Kumana would like him to lay something on the President's grave. Kumana charged into his hut and pulled a large piece of “kustom money” from his cabinet where he kept the bust. According to Roche, Kumana’s son had a look of shock on his face, but then explained that among the many uses of “kustom money,” it was traditional to lay it on the chief's grave. Eroni gave it to Roche, squeezing it in his hand and making him promise to place it on the president’s grave.
At the request of Caroline Kennedy, arrangements were made with Arlington National Cemetery so that Mark Roche could honor the wishes of Eroni Kumana and place the priceless tribute on President Kennedy’s grave. Also in attendance at the private ceremony were Eunice Kennedy Shriver, her son, Tim Shriver, and Sydney Lawford McKelvy, daughter of Patricia Kennedy Lawford. After remaining on the gravesite, the “kustom money” was conveyed to the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum where it will now be displayed next to the coconut shell that led to the rescue of JFK and his crew.
Without the heroic efforts of Eroni Kumana and his partner in the rescue, Biuku Gasa, Lt. John F. Kennedy likely would never have made it to the end of World War II, much less the U.S. Presidency. Kennedy and his men survived on coconuts for six days before they were found by the two islanders. Kennedy asked that they carry a message to Allied forces and as he looked around for something to write the message on, Gasa suggested that Kennedy should carve a message on the husk of a coconut plucked from a nearby tree by Kumana. On the coconut, Kennedy etched a message—"NAURO ISL/NATIVE KNOWS POSIT/HE CAN PILOT/11 ALIVE/NEED SMALL BOAT/KENNEDY"— and the two scouts began their overnight canoe trip rowing 35 miles to the nearest allied base, facing certain death if captured by the Japanese. Biuku has since passed away on November 23, 2005. The inscribed coconut shell, encased in plastic, is part of the Museum’s permanent exhibit.
(Click here for more information about President Kennedy and PT 109.)