Pt 105 by Dick Keresey (1996, Hardcover)

Key Details
Author:	Dick Keresey
Language:	English
Publisher:	Naval Inst Pr
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	1557504601
ISBN-13:	9781557504609

Size
Length:	211 pages
Height:	9.5 in
Width:	6.3 in
Thickness:	1 in
Weight:	18.4 oz

Publisher's Note
Admittedly small and vulnerable, PT boats were, nevertheless, fast--the fastest craft on the water during World War II--and Dick Keresey's account of these tough little fighters throws new light on their unique contributions to the war effort.
As captain of "PT 105", the author was in the same battle as John F. Kennedy when Kennedy's "PT 109" was rammed and sunk. The famous incident, Keresey says, has often been described inaccurately and the PT boat depicted as unreliable and ineffective. This book helps set the record straight by presenting an authentic picture of PT boats in the Pacific. Shot at more than 20 times, the author not only served as a PT officer in the Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and Bougainville campaigns and the Choiseul Island raid, but developed and taught torpedo boat tactics after his combat service.
Keresey's experiences are still fresh in his memory, and he offers an action-filled account of life on a PT boat: evading deadly night bombers, rescuing coast watchers and downed airmen, setting down Marine scouts behind Japanese lines, engaging in vicious gun battles with Japanese barges and small freighters, all the while contending with heat, disease, and loneliness. Keresey recalls two occasions when Kennedy rescued him, and he describes "PT 105"'s controversial rescue of Japanese sailors and his own poignant reunion with one of those sailors 50 years later.

Admittedly small and vulnerable, the PT boats were, nevertheless, fast - the fastest craft on the water during World War II - and Dick Keresey's account of these tough little fighters throws new light on their unique contributions to the war effort. As captain of PT 105, Keresey was in the same battle as John F. Kennedy when Kennedy's PT 109 was rammed and sunk. The famous incident, Keresey says, has often been described inaccurately, with the PT boat depicted as unreliable and ineffective. This book helps set the record straight by presenting an authentic picture of PT boats in the Pacific. Shot at more than twenty times, the author not only served as a PT officer in the Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and Bougainville campaigns and the Choiseul Island raid, but developed and taught torpedo boat tactics after his combat service. Keresey's experiences are still fresh in his memory, and he offers an action-filled account of life on a PT boat: evading deadly night bombers, rescuing coastwatchers and downed airmen, setting down Marine scouts behind Japanese lines, and engaging in vicious gun battles with Japanese barges and small freighters - all the while contending with heat, disease, and loneliness. Keresey recalls two occasions when Kennedy rescued him, and he describes PT 105's controversial rescue of Japanese sailors and his own poignant reunion with one of those sailors fifty years later.

Industry Reviews
"Dick Keresey's description of events that produce effective PT officers in war is excellent and interesting. His accurate description of the PT boat itself and its actions in combat is something that has been lacking in previous books on the subject."
Press materials - John D. Bulkeley