PT 105

To help my son do the PT 109 Next Generation video series, we read a lot of PT 109 books. After PT 105 was mentioned in the Ballard book, we bought this one. It has much more information about the boats, and how they worked, and combat stories. He explains the plight of one boat that abandoned ship, and had to cling two one of the inadequate life rafts that didn't even have a proper bottom. You could hold onto it, but not sit in it. There is a nice chart of the layout of the boat. Very interesting to read that the boats could do 50 knots if they had to, or fight their way right up against japanese docks to rescue people. Funniest thing was the story that PT boats had no armour - except around the refrigerator after a few got shot up. People could be replaced, but not the refrigerator which was the only way to get a cold drink. He also tells the story of a PT boat which HAD radar, but nearly got run over as they were trying to figure out the position of the ship on the blasted @#$% radar set. It's not a very long book and can be read in sections quite nicely. He also tells at the end about how he was sent to pick up survivors marked by a PBY only to find they were Japanese, and was chewed out for picking them up and dropping them off at the Army. One of these prisoners grabbed a gun and shot one of the PT 109 survivors. After the war, he would be contacted by some of these Japanese ex-prisoners who thanked him for their lives.

Although the author is my grandfather, i can honestly say that this book would still have been my favorite personal WWII account even had i never known the man. But since i do know him, i can say that he writes just like he tells stories -- candid, un-embellished, interesting, and highly entertaining. I highly recommend the book and my only complaint is probably the only complaint you'll have if you read it -- that it's over too quickly.

An excellent story on an interesting subject. Please also read "Devil Boats" and "Lt. Meredith, PT Boat Officer" for some other tales of PT Boat action. All are 5 star...

The only bad thing I can say about Dick Keresey's memoir "PT-105" is that it is too brief. In addition to educating the reader of his experiences as a PT Boat skipper during the Pacific War, he also shares with us what it was like to be a young American caught up in great events of his time. He is quite candid about the rather bassackwards way he joined the Navy and eventually ended up at Melville for Motor Torpedo Boat training. Once he becomes a PT man, though, he becomes fiercely loyal to the boats and the men on them.Great stuff here, not only on how the PTs were fought, but what the day to day routine was and how decisions were made. Mr. Keresey is also about mistakes and problems, not only among his superiors but about his own as well. This is probably the most fun I've had reading a book on the Mosquito Fleet (I have lots of them). Highly Recommended.

PT 105 is a must read if you enjoy learning what day to day life was like in the small command Navy. This book is an extremely well written unvarnished account of life in the Pacific thru the eyes of PT 105 commanding officer Dick Kersey. If personal eye witness accounts are for you, then I'm sure you will re read this book again and again.