Profile in Courage: PT-109

By July 1943, the US Navy, Army, and Marines had worked their way up the Solomons against heavy Japanese resistance. At the height of the battle for control of New Georgia, and more specifically the reduction of the powerful Japanese airbase at Munda, the US Navy established a base for Patrol Torpedo (PT) Boats on Rendova island. The Japanese, desperately intent on clinging to their position at Munda, were operating a steady line of supplies and troops that staged out of Rabaul. Using barges, and Destroyers of the Tokyo Express, the Japanese poured troops and supplies down “the Slot”, first to Vila on Kolombangara, and then on to Munda in New Georgia. It was the PT Boats at Rendova that were tasked the dangerous mission of patrolling each night in the Blackett Strait, where they tried to disrupt this Japanese supply line. One of the young PT-Boat skippers was 26 year old Lt. John F. Kennedy of PT 109. This solitaire play game is based on his exploits in the South Pacific during the months of July and August 1943. —description from the publisher