Biuku Gasa (27 July 1923 – 23 November 2005) and Eroni Kumana (c. 1918 – 2 August 2014) were Solomon Islanders of Melanesian descent, who found John F. Kennedy and his surviving PT-109 crew following the boat's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on 1 August 1943. They were from the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. PT-109 search and rescue During World War II, Gasa and Kumana were tasked with patrolling the waters of the Solomon Sea near Gizo by Australian coastwatcher Sub-Lieutenant Reg Evans, who manned a secret observation post at the top of Kolombangara island's Mount Veve volcano, and had five two-man teams of islanders working for him. Evans had spotted an explosion on 1 August, and later that morning decoded news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost PT-109. On 2 August, Gasa and Kumana were dispatched by Evans to search in their dugout canoe for possible PT-109 survivors. Abandoning their sinking ship, Kennedy and his men swam first to Plum Pudding island – which was later named after him. They later abandoned the tiny island and swam to tiny Olasana Island in search of food and water. There, they found coconuts and fresh water which were of some small help to his men, and it was where they were discovered by the two islander men. The canoe couldn't accommodate all of the PT-109 crewmen safely, and all had difficulty communicating with each other. In the absence of writing utensils, Gasa suggested that Kennedy should inscribe a message on the husk of a coconut he had taken from a nearby palm tree: "NAURO ISL... COMMANDER... NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT... HE CAN PILOT... 11 ALIVE... NEED SMALL BOAT... KENNEDY". This message, after rowing their dugout canoe at great risk through of hostile waters patrolled by the Japanese, was then delivered to the nearest Allied base at Rendova. They enabled the ensuing return to Olasana and the successful American rescue operation on 7 August. Later years Kennedy later invited them to attend his presidential inauguration in 1961, but the pair was duped en route in Honiara, the Solomon Islands capital, by British colonial officials who sent other representatives instead. Another version of the story is that they were turned back by British officials at the airport due to not speaking English. The story from Biuku's descendants is that the British officials