This may not be a car, or even completely LEGO, but it is a stunning build nevertheless. TLCB regular Daniel Siskind is back with another superb military creation. Built utilising third-party Brickarms weaponry, thirteen custom mini-figures, and a third-party Brickmania flag, Daniel has created a near perfect replica of Elco Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109.
PT-109 was one of hundreds of Patrol Torpedo boats built in the 1940s by the U.S for service in the Pacific theatre. However PT-109 is more noteworthy than most due to both its fate, and the man that commanded it.
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, who would later become the 35th President of the United States, was aboard the PT-109 in the dead of night on August 2nd 1943. The boat was idling so as to remain undetected by Japanese warships when, in a (probable) freak accident, it was run down a severed in two by the Japanese warship Amagiri.
Two of the thirteen crew were killed as PT-109 exploded, and the remaining eleven survivors clung to one half of the boat as it drifted through the night. As it became apparent that what was left of the ship would soon sink, Kennedy and his crew decided to abandon it for land, swimming 5.6km to a tiny uninhabited island, with Kennedy towing a badly burned crew member the entire way.
Unfortunately the island the crew found themselves on had no food or drinking water, so Kennedy swam to the nearby Olasana islands in search of a more habitable refuge. Finding coconuts and clean water he then led the crew to their new island home, hiding from the passing Japanese boats.
6 days later the crew of PT-109 were rescued, and Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart. This fitting tribute to one of the Second World War’s more remarkable feats of survival can be seen in greater detail at Daniel Siskind’s PT-109 album – click the link above to see the full gallery of images, which includes several interior shots of the boat and a close-up of the custom-made mini-figure crew.
John F. Kennedy was elected the 35th President of the Unites States in 1961, and died by assassination on November 22nd 1963.
