This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/18/2013
Gerard E. Zinser, member of Lt. John F. Kennedy's PT-109 crew during World War II, signs his account of serving under JFK during the boat's sinking. In a famous 1943 incident in which the boat was run down by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy heroically saved a fellow crew member by holding the man's life jacket between his teeth while swimming to safety, and then later swimming out each night in search of a rescue boat: "…He left at the first sign of darkness…and stayed out in Ferguson Passage treading water, returning in the morning…Each time he was exhausted…" The typed 8.5" x 11" account ends, "…In all my 20 years of Naval service I met many good officers, but none could equal John F. Kennedy. [signed] Gerard E. Zinser". Fine condition.