The second of the two Solomon Islanders who helped save Lieutenant John Kennedy during World War Two has died.
Eroni Kumana died at his home in Western Province on Saturday.
He was 93.
On the 1st of August in 1943, he and Biuku Gasa found the future US president and a number of the crew from his PT boat which had been rammed by a Japanese destroyer, stranded on Olasana Island near Gizo.
Lieutenant Kennedy carved a message in the husk of a coconut and the two Solomon Islanders, at great risk, rowed through Japanese-patrolled waters to deliver the message to the nearest Allied base.
The sailors were then rescued.
American troops land in Solomon Islands in World War II. Photo: AFP
Eroni Kumana and Biuku Gasa were both invited to Mr Kennedy's inauguration in 1961, but a British colonial officer reportedly decided their English wasn't good enough and prevented them from leaving the Solomons.
Biuku Gasa died nine years ago.
