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Topic: The Most Famous Boat |
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QM
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 8:50am
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I learned of the exploits of the boats in the Philippines from radio and newspapers. I learned more about PT boats from reading "At Close Quarters". Hollywood had no input. I did not see the movie "PT 109" until the 1980's when by chance I saw it on television. I am not familiar with McHale's navy. I was probably busy working at the time. Apparently in another generation or two no one will know the true history of PT's. Much of it is already lost.
To test other memories of WWll can anyone remember Colin Kelly? He was not in PT's. |
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Will Day
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 Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 9:58am
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Sure, Kelly was a B-17 pilot who won the DSC in the Philippines at the start of the war.
Will |
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Frank J Andruss Sr
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 10:00am
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QM
It just so happens that outside of my incredible passion for PT BOATS, the B-17 FLYING FORTRESS is my second love. Captain Kelly, I think was the first B-17 lost in the war. He won a medal for staying at the controls of the plane, until all the men had bailed out, than his plane blew up..................I think I remember it correctly.
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Jerry Gilmartin |
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 3:02pm
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I have been thinking about this question for quite some time and could'nt quite put into words how I felt about it until now.
I agree with QM that PT41 is the most famous boat "of all time". How do I come to that conclusion? It has to do with the time period that you reference.
For comparison, let us imagine a couple of similar cases, lets say : What was the most famous ship during the Civil War?" Or "What was the most famous ship from the Ancient Greek Navy, from the Peloponesian War?" If you think about it, the answer depends upon what time period the people you are polling lived. If you ask the ancient Greeks, I am sure you could come up with a valid answer. If you ask the "man on the street" today, (even in Greece) you would most likely get a blank stare as your most common response. So using the "man on the street" is not a valid measuring stick. The most famous ship from the Civil War may be the Monitor and Merrimack, or the CSS Alabama, depending on who you ask, and depending on when the group you are asking lived. If you ask the modern day "man on the street" again, you will get a blank stare. So to apply this same standard of who should be deciding the relative fame, either the modern day "man on the street" or the population that was exposed to the time period that the ship or event belonged to, (ie the Civil War, or WW2 or ancient Greece) In my opinion, it must belong to the population that was alive during the time period the boat became famous.
Lets put it another way, Add up all the people in the world who were amazed and intrigued by the exploits of PT41 and LT Bulkeley in the Phillipines during the 1942 to 1945 time period. Now compare that number to the number of people who only know about PT109 and JFK in the 1961-1964 time period. I think the WW2 exploits of PT41 were much more widely publicized and to a world wide population than PT109. Everyone is muddying up their perceptions with their own personal experiences to come to a valid conclusion. If you compare it to the standard of the people alive during the time of the event being the best judge of fame, then by far the PT41 is the most famous boat of all time.
Just my opinion.
Jerry
Jerry Gilmartin |
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EARL RICHMOND
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 3:54pm
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my opinion
each boat/ship/plane, etc ,had something happen to it that made it "stand out " from the others.circumstances arose at the time that caused the action to take place.only due to this situation was the emphasis placed on the individual target.
in the case of pt boats pt 41 was assigned to do it,s job.pt109,unfortunately,was placed in an apparently unavoidable collision??.all other pt,s were also assiogned to their individual assignments.each one of them "could have been"assigned to do what the 41 and 109 were assigned to do.but.they,were the assigned boats,they were given the notoriety because they did their jobs and history and the media did the rest.i feel that every ship/plane/boat /man/woman that did their job well and courageosly deserve the title 'the best,well known,etc, because they all did their jobs to the best of their ability with what they had.certainly the 41 and 109 boats "stood out" among the rest but if other boats were assigned to their patrols then those boats would have been the ones that stood out in history.there were other boats that were more battle scarred that did not get attention but men died on them also.i feel that if rather than single out any one boat all should recognized because they all did their jobs equally.i am NOT claiming personal credits as i was only one of many that did their assigned duty.there were many men much braver than i who deserve credits.forgive me for rambling on but i n felt that i had to say something.just an old man,s thoughts earl
earl richmond |
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Frank J Andruss Sr
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 6:40pm
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Earl:
Your thoughts are well taken, and believe me you are not rambling on. I understand your thoughts as many men in WWII did their jobs rather in PT BOATS, PLANES, TANKS, INFANTRY, MARINES or whatever. In the case of the PT BOATS, many men were put into harms way, each and every night, and men did die on those boats. For whatever reason, the press did not pick up on those incidents, but their sacrifices were by no means any less than say the loses of Marney and Kirksey from PT-109.
The discussion here is by no means downplaying the role of any man who was out there doing his duty. It is simply a discussion on which boat lay claim to being the one in the public eye the most. As I said in my earlier post, I felt PT-41 during the War was by far the boat that the public was showered with in the papers. In a time where VICTORIES were in short demand, this DAVID vs GOLIETH role of the little PT Boats in the Philippines was considered a big Victory. Many of the claims from the Squadron were blown up, but back home, it was just what the public needed.
As Jerry mentioned in his post, PT-109 during the KENNEDY run for office, was eaten up by the press, and the making of the movie PT-109 hit the screens all over the UNITED STATES. The boats and Kennedy became very popular, and thus at that time, PT-109 would become the most famous. For those of us that spend a good deal of our waking hours dedicated to PT BOATS, I would tend to stand by my claim that PT-41 was by far the most famous during WWII.
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CJ Willis
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Posted on: Jan 19, 2010 - 7:51pm
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Earl:
I appreciated your comments. You said it all very well. Every officer and sailor that I knew in PT's if assigned to do the patrols that the 41 and 109 did would all have done them to the best of their ability. It is all a matter of opinion as for as the most famous boat, I would probably say the 242 because I rode it but we got very little publicity from the media. Even though our crew would have gone to Hell and back if needed.
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David Waples |
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Posted on: Jan 20, 2010 - 6:19am
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Let's see...
PT-109 is the most well known PT Boat from WWII, today.
The rescue of the Ambassador's son and the crew of PT-109 was well known during the war and continues to capture our country's attention to this day.
While what Bulkley did with the 41 boat as well as the others was well known at the time and did a lot to enlist young men into PT service, it was really all about MacArthur. If he was around today, he'd tell you himself.
Yes, JFK was our 35th president Garth.
All the PT boats were important. Everyone one of them.
That's all I have to say. I'm going back to modeling my PT Boats.
Dave
David Waples |
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TGConnelly
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Posted on: Jan 21, 2010 - 6:55am
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David ...
My 'bejesus' comment about JFK meant that I found it hard to comprehend that an educated person would not have known such as a commonly known fact as that ........
Garth
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Jan 21, 2010 - 3:02pm
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Garth,
I've told this story before here on the board, but...
Years ago, one of the high-school kids that worked for me, from one of the city's top high schools, and who had already been accepted to our state university, was startled to learn that the Japanese had attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor to start our involvement in WWII.
She had honestly thought WE attacked the JAPANESE at Pearl Harbor.
No kidding.
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