Eroni "Aaron" Kumana and the Secretary of the Navy the Honorable Donald C. Winter cut a welcoming cake, Aug. 22, aboard USS Peleliu (LHA 5) in the Bougainville strait. Eroni is credited with the rescue of Lt. John F. Kennedy, nearly 18 years before becoming president, and the rest of PT-109's crew following the ship's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on August 2, 1943.