Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-077-001
This scrapbook, compiled by John F. “Jack” Kennedy, documents his time serving in the United States Navy during World War II from 1941 through 1944, including his assignment in the Solomon Islands and his command of the motor torpedo boat, PT-109, as well as time spent on leave with family and friends. The gold stamped title on the front cover reads, “J.F.K.” The scrapbook contains photographic prints, newspaper and magazine clippings, several pieces of correspondence, and other types of printed ephemera. Of note are clippings related to the rescue of the PT-109 crew near the Solomon Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean following its sinking by a Japanese destroyer; Jack’s receipt of the Navy and Marine Corps medal for his actions in the aftermath of the attack on PT-109; his brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.’s military service and death while piloting a U.S. Navy aircraft over Blythburgh, East Suffolk, England; the marriage of his sister, Kathleen Kennedy, to William “Billy” Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington; and Billy Hartington’s death while serving in the British Army. Photographs show Jack in the Solomon Islands singly and with fellow U.S. Navy sailors, including George H. R. “Barney” Ross, James A. “Jim” Reed, Paul B. “Red” Fay, Allan “Al” Webb, Leon Emery Drawdy, Edman Edgar Mauer, Edmund T. Drewitch, John Edward Maguire, Charles Albert Harris, Maurice L. Kowal, Andrew Jackson Kirksey, and Leonard "Lenny" Thom. Also pictured is Jack in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts and Palm Beach, Florida, with family, including his mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy; siblings, Joseph, Jr., Kathleen, Eunice Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, and Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy; cousin, Joseph Francis "Joey" Gargan, Jr.; and friends, Jim Reed, Julia Reed, Lenny Thom, Catherine “Kate” Thom, Barney Ross, Nancy Tenney, Red Fay, Bernie Lyons, Torbert Macdonald, and John "Zeke" Coleman, Jr. Others who are pictured are U.S. Navy commissioned officers who served in the South West Pacific theater, including Commander Henry Charles Farrow, Jr.; Lt. Commander Robert Bolling Kelly; Commodore Edward J. “Mike” Moran; and Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr. Of note are two typed letters detailing Jack’s military orders during World War II; clippings related to and photographs of Jack receiving the Navy and Marine Corps Medal from Captain Frederick L. Conklin at the Chelsea Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts; a typed letter awarding him a Purple Heart medal for injuries he sustained during his command of PT-109; a typed letter awarding him the Navy and Marine Corps Medal; a printed compilation of news releases issued by the “So-Pac Press,” a publication of the U.S. Naval Command in the South Pacific; a printed list of wartime instructions that American service members could distribute to native peoples in case of an emergency landing on one of the Solomon Islands; and a postcard sent to Jack with a handwritten message from his brother, Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, postmarked from Palestine and featuring an image of Jerusalem. This scrapbook contains 66 photographic prints and postcards, 64 newspaper and periodical clippings (including several full periodical pages), four typed letters, and two other printed documents.
