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Image
0215-W2M-03/2005
John L. Iles
Lieutenant
U. S. Navy
WWII US Military
Dates of Service: 12/31/1941 - 12/31/1945
PT Boat Commander
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One of his Navy buddies during the war was a skinny guy from Massachusetts named "Jack" Kennedy. Born November 10, 1920 in Oberlin, Louisiana, this Allen Parish native enlisted in the U.S. Navy at Christmas in 1942, was commissioned an ensign, and volunteered for PT boat service. In the Pacific, John battled seasickness while serving on PT-125 and later commanding PT-105 out of the Solomon Islands. His craft often berthed near PT-109, the vessel the future president commanded. John served on two fronts. He was sent from the Pacific to the European Theater, where he saw PT boat service off the coast of southern France. In May of 1945 John drove boats in the making of a movie, They Were Expendable. The John Ford production, which was filmed in Miami and starring John Wayne, concerned the journey by PT boat of General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor to Australia. John was discharged late in 1945. After the war he worked forty years in sales.