PT-109 bonded them for life

Through the haze of Alzheimer's, Gerard E. Zinser relives his memories of the South Pacific and the man who would become president.

By DAVE SCHEIBER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- The elderly man in the wheelchair looks frail and lost in his thoughts, seemingly just another visitor immersed in the JFK exhibit at the Florida International Museum.

But inside a darkened room, far from the bustle of Memorial Day weekend, the man's pale brown eyes lock onto a display that towers above him -- a replica of the bow of a Japanese destroyer.

It is the ship that changed his life, forever linking him to a fabled president and a place in history.

Gerard E. Zinser, the sole surviving member of the crew of PT-109, is suddenly back in the South Pacific waters off the Solomon Islands, a 24-year-old sailor clinging desperately to the wreckage of his boat with Navy ensign John F. Kennedy and nine others.

Wearing a blue cap emblazoned with the words "Purple Heart" and "Combat Wounded," Zinser looks on in silence, accompanied Saturday by a large and excited entourage -- including four of his eight children, six grandchildren and five friends who drove in from Georgia. It is a snapshot of the passage of time: a fading hero from the generation that helped save the world, surrounded by family and new generations that today keep alive his memories and accomplishments.

Now 81, Zinser has grown quieter the past few years. The Jacksonville resident suffers from Alzheimer's disease and can easily lose his place talking about events in the present, his voice often trailing off in a whisper. But images from those harrowing days at sea in World War II still burn strong in his mind.

"He remembers a lot from the war and a lot about JFK," says his son, Mark Zinser, 43, standing beside his father's wheelchair.

By chance, they are positioned on the part of the exhibit floor painted to look like water beside the deck of the crippled PT boat. Indeed, Zinser's first memory from that night nearly 57 years ago is when he regained consciousness in the water. He had been sleeping on deck when the Japanese ship ripped PT-109 in half as it patrolled the islands just past midnight on Aug. 2, 1943. His chest and one of his arms was burned by flames, and he was knocked out by the impact.

Zinser came to in a blur of confusion and agony -- crew members screaming each other's names to see who was alive, searing pain from the saltwater on his burned skin. Two crewmen were killed, while Zinser, Kennedy and the others held tight to pieces of their boat through the night.

The rest of the story has been well-documented in history books, Hollywood movies, and now in the permanent JFK exhibit in downtown St. Petersburg. Kennedy ordered his men to swim to a nearby island, and despite sustaining a back injury, towed one severely injured sailor for five hours through the water. The future 35th president of the United States eventually persuaded natives on Cross Island to go for help, and the stranded crew was rescued five days later.

[Times photo: Pam Royal] As word of who he was got out around the museum, Gerard Zinser was asked for his autograph. Here, he signs someone's copy of the book PT-109. One of his granddaughters, Samantha Zinser, 11, peers over his shoulder.

After the war, Zinser, a native of Belleville, Ill., settled in Winter Park as a mail carrier; he and his wife would have seven daughters and a son. When Kennedy was elected president in 1960, Zinser became a local celebrity himself, even though most of his neighbors had voted Republican. He and his fellow crewmen rode in the PT-109 float during Kennedy's inauguration. Everyone wanted to hear about his experiences with JFK, especially when PT 109, the motion picture starring Cliff Robertson, hit theaters in 1963.

Zinser's part was played in the film by William Douglas, reflecting how the young motor machinist joined the crew shortly before its fateful encounter with the enemy warship. Zinser even had a small part as an extra in the movie. Soon, owners of local theaters and drive-ins were inviting the popular mail carrier to attend showings of PT 109, to sign autographs afterward. He handed out homemade publicity photos of PT-109 dueling with a Japanese plane, with a little inset shot in his post office hat.

The Zinser children grew up with the same notoriety. Classmates always wanted to know all the details, and their father was a frequent subject for school reports. He would meet Kennedy once more at a presidential fundraiser in Miami. The president was moving briskly down a receiving line of well-wishers when the moment arrived.

"My dad was worried, because they weren't young sailors anymore, and he said to my mom, "He won't even recognize me,' " Mark Zinser recalls. "So my mom told him how to introduce himself, and when it came time, he stepped up there, grabbed the President's hand, and said, "Zinser, Gerard E., motor machinist mate first class, reporting for duty, PT-109' -- just the way he had first introduced himself when he came aboard."

Kennedy's jaw dropped, and he embraced Zinser. They started to talk, but the president's handlers had to keep him moving. Still, it was an experience Zinser and his family would always cherish.

Saturday was another one. The visit was arranged by Pam McLin, 46, one of three daughters from central Florida who joined their father for the tour. He was greeted by JFK's cousin Kerry McCarthy and her mother, Mary Louise Connelly, who drove in from St. Augustine, as well as the source of the JFK collection, Robert L. White.

White had planned to return to his home near Baltimore last week since his curating role is completed at the museum, but he extended his stay when he heard Zinser was planning a visit.

"This is a huge moment," says White, moments after shaking Zinser's hand. "It was an honor to meet (Robert) Donovan, who wrote PT 109. But Mr. Donovan wasn't sure anybody from the crew was still alive. So to meet somebody who was actually on board PT-109, and is integral to these galleries, is a thrill. I was shocked when this came up. It's surreal for me."

It is hard to tell how the exhibit affects Zinser. During the showing of a short JFK newsreel, his eyes seem to tear up during footage of the assassination, and his granddaughter, 18-year-old Pam Zinser of Jacksonville, leans toward him to ask him if he is doing okay. He smiles and grasps her hand.

"When we went to D.C. last year and visited John F. Kennedy's grave, with the eternal flame, that's the only thing that got to him," she says. "I don't know what was going through his head, but he stood there, and just didn't want to move."

Curious visitors to the museum quickly learn of his identity. One man in his late 70s steps forward to shake Zinser's hand and proclaim, "I'm a fellow veteran World War II, Patton's third army." Then he turns to Mark Zinser and nearby family members. "You must be very proud of him. There aren't many of us left."

The family tour lasts nearly two hours. As it winds to a close, McLin speaks of her father's Alzheimer's, how he sometimes thinks he's still married, though he and his wife divorced in the '70s, how the war and Kennedy have become the core of his memory.

"I think this really meant a lot to him," she says.

For Zinser, the visit is not just a special way to mark Memorial Day. It is an early birthday present -- on Wednesday, he turns 82. Though he can still walk with assistance, he sits in his wheelchair outside the museum after the tour, painstakingly signing his name for several admirers, answering questions with short, softly spoken replies.

His arms bear three tattoos -- one for the Navy and one for his former wife. He added the third, depicting a sailing ship, when the war ended. The words beneath it read "Homeward Bound."

To a place, linked with a president, in history.

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