The day an Aussie plucked JFK from the sea

An Australian helped rescue John F. Kennedy when his boat sank near the Solomon Islands during WWII. In this extract from his new book, Brett Mason examines the successful mission to save the future US President.

President Kennedy and Reg Evans, who saved him after his boat was capsized during World War II

On a moonless night in August 1943, a US torpedo boat commanded by the future US president Lt John F. Kennedy, on patrol in Solomon Islands, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Left clinging to wreckage, Kennedy’s crew eventually struggled ashore. Missing, presumed dead, behind enemy lines, and with no food or water, the future looked bleak for the shipwrecked Americans.

Fortunately, Australian coast watcher Lt Reg Evans witnessed the immediate aftermath of the collision from his nearby jungle hideaway and, over the next five days, he worked with two Solomon Islander scouts — Eroni Kumana and Biuku Gasa — to locate Kennedy and his crew and ensured their rescue.

President John F. Kennedy meets the Australian, Reg Evans, who saved his lifePresident John F. Kennedy meets the Australian, Reg Evans, who saved his life.

For years, Evans’s identity was obscured, and misreported. But then, in April 1961, he received a note from Kennedy – who had by then become president of the United States – to “drop by the White House on May 1st, at 11:30am.”

Kennedy was, he said, “look[ing] forward to the opportunity of reliving the hectic days in the Solomons” and he concluded his notes with the words, “I am certainly happy that all the confusion about the true identity of my rescuer has been cleared up.”

President Kennedy in the Oval Office with the Australian, Reg Evans, who saved his life during WWII.

It will surprise nobody to know that a huge media scrum was on hand to greet Evans at Idlewild Airport (now the John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York, on the day of his arrival.

“New Yorkers today turned on a hero’s welcome”, reported The Daily Telegraph. “Mr Evans was besieged by reporters, photographers, newsreel and television cameramen when he stepped from the plane which brought him from Australia.” It was not something that a middle-aged suburban accountant was used to.

Shortly before noon, Evans and the journalist Bob Curran, who accompanied him to the White House, entered an anteroom to the Oval Office, and then into the President’s White House study. President Kennedy himself opened the door, greeting Evans with a handshake and introducing him to vice-president Lyndon Johnson, who was on his way out.

Sounding much as he had in 1943, Kennedy told Evans, “I am extremely glad to see you today,” adding later, “I am very grateful for what you did”.

Employing Kennedy humour, he apologised for not leaving Evans’s Japanese rifle in the canoe, as promised. For his part, Evans said he “was amazed to find [Kennedy] scarcely changed in appearance from our last meeting in the Solomon Islands … But as I told him he was better dressed this time”.

Eighteen years on from their initial conversation on Gomu Island, the rescuer and the rescued – or the Sydney accountant and the American president as they now were – hit it off immediately. Evans “felt at home with President Kennedy from the first moment”.

“We chatted on like two old cobbers”, the Australian veteran said, paying the American president the ultimate compliment. They both shared a love of the sea; the president pointed to models of ships in the Oval Office and paintings on the walls and said, “You notice the maritime atmosphere here”.

Kennedy then presented Evans with a PT-109 tie clip, while Evans and Curran gave the president a painting by a magazine illustrator, which captured the moment Kennedy stepped ashore on Gomu from the canoe paddled by the Islanders.

Later, Kennedy took Evans outside to the White House verandah, as Reg called it, but light rain deterred them from taking a quick stroll through the gardens. All in all, they chatted for half an hour, twenty minutes of it in private. There is no official transcript of the meeting, and only a minute-long piece of silent black-and-white footage of the two of them in the Oval Office supplements Evans’s memory of the event.

As the meeting came to a close, JFK walked Evans out to the steps of the White House, toward the waiting media.

“I am all for Australia,” Kennedy said. They were among his last words to the Australian who had rescued him. He also said: “I will see you tonight. I think you will enjoy it”. For a second, Evans was puzzled, but then remembered he was scheduled to appear on The Jack Paar Show on TV from New York that night. The president had indicated that he would be watching.

The Jack Paar Show was a high-rating night-time chat show, in later years hosted by Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Fallon. Himself an army veteran of the South Pacific, albeit as an entertainer for the troops, Paar hit the big time in the late 1950s, hosting his show under the Tonight Show franchise for NBC. Airing at 11:15pm – Kennedy must have stayed up quite late that night – Jack Paar’s guests that evening included comedian Stan Freberg, comedian Cliff Arquette, and singer Peanuts Taylor of Nassau, as well as Evans. Having met the president earlier in the day, Evans told his story to Jack Paar with a viewing audience that was twice the size of Australia’s then population of 10 million. With his modesty and unassuming manner, no doubt assisted by his Australian accent, Evans was a hit.

President John F. Kennedy visits with A.R. "Reg" Evans (left). Evans is holding a painting that shows Kennedy being helped into a canoe.

Evans was busy for the rest of his stay in America, attending Battle of Coral Sea commemorations and a garden party at the residence of the Australian ambassador, Sir Howard Beale, where he was a guest of honour, as well as events in Manhattan and Chicago. There is no doubt, however, that the half an hour with the former lieutenant Kennedy was the highlight of his American trip.

In June 1961, Cavalier published its article, Found! The Unsung Hero Who Saved President Kennedy’s Life. On a daffodil-yellow cover, an attached red sticker highlighted the drama: “Exclusive! How I saved Jack Kennedy’s Life by Reg Evans”. Evans had been assisted in his telling of the story by D’Arcy Niland, a well-known Australian novelist married to writer Ruth Park. He was truly famous now for saving the life of a president who, at the time of their White House meeting, had a little over two years to live.

Saving Lieutenant Kennedy.

This is an edited extract from Saving Lieutenant Kennedy (UNSW Press) by Brett Mason. It has been 80 years since Reg Evans’ heroic rescue of JFK and his crew off the Solomon Islands during WWII. In November, it will be 60 years since JFK was assassinated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brett Mason is chair of the Council of the National Library of Australia and Adjunct Professor in the School of Justice at the Queensland University of Technology. He was a Senator for Queensland, before being appointed Australia’s Ambassador to The Hague and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.