A PT Skipper in the South Pacific: A Naval Officer's Memoir of Service on PTs and a PT Boat Tender - Paperback

by Kenneth W. Prescott (Author)

Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series

Second Edition 2011

From training at Melville, Rhode Island, to the South Pacific where as XO and CO of PT 61 and CO of PT 48 he served at Tulagi-Florida Island, Guadalcanal, and the Russells, as well as on different assignments in Torokina, Bougainville, and Emirau, New Ireland, back to Melville and on to the USS Jamestown (AGP-3) as XO, home based in the Philippines, and finally to his post-war career in the Navy.

Included are his bird collecting and taxidermy efforts during and after the war, as well as an encounter with future president John F. Kennedy.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Pearl Harbor and Joining the Navy

Chapter 2: Motor Torpedo Boat Training, Melville, Rhode Island

Chapter 3: To the South Pacific

Chapter 4: The Old-Timers: Heroes of the PT Saga

Chapter 5: Calvertville

Chapter 6: XO of PT 61

Chapter 7: Patrolling and Boxing

Chapter 8: The Russells, Rats, and Poker

Chapter 9: Taxidermy-South Pacific Style

Chapter 10: CO of PT 61

Chapter 11: Kennedy, Crocs, and Gunboats

Chapter 12: CO of PT 48

Chapter 13: Torokina and Malaria

Chapter 14: Bougainville and Bird Collecting

Chapter 15: Emirau and Back to the U.S.

Chapter 16: Melville Again

Chapter 17: Back to the Pacific; Chapter 18: XO of the Jamestown

Chapter 19: Japan Surrenders and Jamestown Returns Home

Chapter 20: Recuperating in Hollywood

Chapter 21: My Post-War Studies

Chapter 22: Naval Reserve and Civilian Life

Chapter 23: Epilogue

100 photos/illustrations