Memorials at Battleship Cove.

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While the PT boat service constituted only a small fraction of the US Navy's operations in World War II, they inflicted major damage on enemy operations. This toll came at a heavy price, however; the Navy lost 96 boats, with 331 PT boaters killed in action.

A memorial scroll is on permanent display in the Newberry Hall PT exhibition building at Battleship Cove. To view an online version of this document, visit this page at the official website of PT Boats Inc.

"It was a very, very good experience for me even though I lost my left arm, and I was left handed, you know."

-Belton Copp

COVE GIVES BALLARD A WARM RECEPTION: In 1985, a young Cape Cod oceanographer uncovered the watery grave of Titanic and heralded a new era in undersea exploration. Since his discovery of this notorious wreck, Dr. Robert Ballard has built a distinguished career...Ctd.

COURAGE UNDER FIRE: Brilliant, handsome, and athletic, twenty-one-
year-old Belton Copp was poised to inherit a life of privilege on December 6, 1941. The grandson of legendary nature artist John James Audubon, Copp was a varsity playmaker on the Yale gridiron when the Japanese Imperial Navy launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Copp enlisted in the Navy, triggering a series of events that would land him on a motor torpedo boat in the Pacific, speeding headlong into the jaws of the Japanese. In his final firefight, Copp was wounded in the arm, which became gangrenous and required amputation.

Says Copp, "It was the best thing that happened to me really - this whole incident -because until then I'd had everything my way, you know - Exeter (Academy), Yale, all that stuff - and a football player. And I learned that there are some people that aren't quite that lucky. It was a very, very good experience for me even though I lost my left arm, and I was left handed, you know."

Click here to visit Battleship Cove's Veterans' Voices oral history archives.

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