It was called one of the biggest blunders of World War II, but somehow John F. Kennedy was able to get help for the survivors of the attack on his PT 109 boat during World War II.

So says Frank Rigg, curator of the JFK Museum in Boston, who spoke at the Concord Rotary Club this week. Rigg emigrated to the U.S. in 1969 to attend Brandeis University before landing a job at the Boston landmark to JFK's memory.

Rigg recounted the history of the war in the Pacific and what brought Kennedy to that boat in the Solomon Islands that August, 1943. He said a frail and sickly JFK was not welcomed into the armed forces, and had to use pull to enlist.

But pull strings he did, and wound up in the U.S. Navy as captain of the wooden boat with no armor, and very little ammunition, Rigg said.

He said the Japanese navy was sending convoys to supply its forces in the Pacific, and the PT boats patrolled the waters around the Solomon Islands trying to disrupt the Japanese forces, called the Tokyo Express.

"Guadalcanal had just been taken by the U.S.," said Rigg. "It was the first good news in a while. He said U.S. forces were victorious at El Alamein, and "it was the beginning of the turning point in the war."

Rigg said the Japanese attack happened at night.

"It was pitch black, no moon nor stars," he said. "The crew of the PT boat saw the destroyer looming up behind them. They couldn't tell if it was another PT boat or not, until the PT boat was hit, and the starboard side was sliced in half, just missing Kennedy."

"Suddenly, he was in the water," said Rigg. "He was such a sickly person. He couldn't pass the Army physical, but he was determined to get in, and he signed up well before Pearl Harbor."

Rigg said Kennedy wrote that he did not want to sit out the war "wearing coward's tweeds," and trained for active duty. Rigg said the PT boats had a glamorous image in the Pacific theater.

"They were called the cavaliers of the ocean," said Rigg. "They bounced over the waves, which wasn't good for Kennedy's back."

Rigg said the crew had three small guns and torpedos from World War I that were essentially useless as they bobbed in the water. They couldn't see each other because of the darkness, although there were flames all around, he said.

"They got to one of the many islands and regrouped," said Rigg. "They grabbed the trunk of a coconut palm tree and kicked to shore."

One crew member was so badly injured that Kennedy had to tow him four miles to shore. For six days, all they ate were coconuts.

Rigg said the impatient Kennedy swam into the channel "in Japanese waters" to flag down a passing boat. "He had that drive to survive, and kept the men going."

Rigg said a fishing boat came along that had two Solomon Islanders in it, and Kennedy had to make them understand they were U.S. soldiers. Kennedy scratched out a message on a piece of coconut shell for the men to take to a Naval base in Australia. The message was, "11 alive; need small boat. Kennedy."

"He was furious, bitter," said Rigg, that "no one had come looking for the PT boat, and assumed they had all been killed."

"The mission was the worst planned one of World War II," Rigg said.