Legacy
The episode of PT-109's sinking featured in a book and a 1963 movie, PT 109, starring Cliff Robertson. It had some historical inaccuracies, such as the Navy searching for the boat rather than holding a memorial service for the crew. President Kennedy personally selected Robertson to play him in the film version. As there were only a few Elco PT-105 class hulls in existence by that time (none in operable condition or resembling their WW-II appearance) a few 82' USAF Crash Rescue boats were converted to resemble PT-109 and a few other Elco PT's in the movie.
A song entitled PT-109 by Jimmy Dean reached No. 8 on the pop music, and No. 3 on the country music charts in 1962, making it one of Dean's most successful recordings.
Plum Pudding Island was later renamed Kennedy Island. A controversy arose when the government sold the land to a private investor who charged admission to tourists.
The 1958 movie South Pacific preceded PT-109 as a drama about Navy sailors in the Pacific theater.
PT-109 was also a subject of toy, plastic and RC model ships in the 1960s, familiar to boys who grew up as Baby Boomers. It was still a popular 1/72 scale Revell model kit in the 21st century. Hasbro also released a PT-109 edition John F. Kennedy G.I. Joe action figure, dressed in Navy khakis with a miniature version of the famous coconut shell.
The tale is much less familiar to later generations, as the movie was out of print in VHS in the US by 2006 and was not released in the US on DVD until 2011. It is available outside of the US as a Video CD, but not yet as a DVD.
Read more about this topic: Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
Famous quotes containing the word legacy:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)