Step 1 : Introduction to the question "After his boat was sunk in WWII, Lt. John F. Kennedy sent a "help message" using what?"
On this day in 1943, while John F. Kennedy was serving in World War II as commander of the PT109, his boat was hit by a Japanese destroyer and his crew was stranded in the Solomon Islands. Lieutenant John F. Kennedy carved a distress message into a coconut shell and gave it to two natives to deliver to the PT base. The message carved into the coconut shell stated: "NAURO ISL…COMMANDER…NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT…HE CAN PILOT…11 ALIVE…NEED SMALL BOAT…KENNEDY". Kennedy later had the coconut shell encased in wood and used it as a paperweight on his desk in the Oval Office.