In November 1942, the ocean swallowed the SS Benlomond in less than 120 seconds Amid the waves, a Chinese man named Poon Lim, second steward on board, managed to free himself from the wreckage and floated for hours until he found a wooden raft. It wasn't salvation, but limbo: biscuits, chocolate, sugar, a jug of water, a few flares, two funnels, and a flashlight. No company, no route, just the void of the Atlantic. The attack was the work of the German submarine U-172. Of the 54 crew members, only six managed to leave the ship. Lim was the only survivor. For 133 days, the sea was his only home. He caught birds, drank their blood, fished with improvised lines, faced a shark, hauled it aboard, killed it with a jug, and ate it. Every day was a pact with hunger, every night a duel with loneliness. When the Brazilian coast finally appeared on the horizon, Poon was a man, nine kilos lighter, but still able to walk. Local fishermen found him and helped him, but they didn't save him:...
Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, the younger sister of John F. Kennedy, lived a remarkably short life that was repeatedly overshadowed by loss
Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, the younger sister of John F. Kennedy, lived a remarkably short life that was repeatedly overshadowed by loss
Her first marriage in 1944 was already controversial within her family because she had chosen William Cavendish, a British aristocrat who was Protestant, something that strongly displeased her Catholic parents.
The tragedy surrounding her marriage became even worse only weeks later. Her older brother Joe Kennedy Jr. was killed while serving during World War II. Not long afterward, Kathleen suffered another devastating loss when Cavendish was also killed in the war.
After the conflict ended, Kathleen eventually found love again, this time with Peter Fitzwilliam, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam. Their relationship was complicated from the beginning. Fitzwilliam was also Protestant, and he was still married to another woman when their romance began. He eventually divorced his wife, and the couple decided to travel to France in an attempt to obtain Kathleen's father's approval for their relationship.
They never got the chance to resolve the family dispute. On May 13, 1948, the aircraft carrying Kathleen and Fitzwilliam crashed in southern France. All four people aboard the plane died, abruptly ending Kathleen's life at just 28 years old.
Her funeral was an unusually lonely affair for someone born into such a prominent family. Kathleen's father was the only member of her immediate family who attended. Despite that, she was never forgotten by the Kennedys.
More than 15 years later, her brother John F. Kennedy made a private visit to her grave in England. It took place in June 1963, only a few months before his own assassination. The visit was later commemorated with a memorial stone at the gravesite, leaving a permanent reminder of the bond between the president and the sister whose life had been cut short by tragedy
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