Walter Kundis - Mios Woendi and Bet Me

"Mios Woendi was huge. Mios Woendi was the biggest and best base we operated from. Mios Woendi seemed like paradise after the mud and dampness of Drager Harbor. Skipper Wolf remarked that it must have been some mistake that gave this South Pacific paradise to the PT boats for a base.

When we arrived at the base for the first time, our PT was tied to the last remaining pier. After a meal the Skipper briefed us on the layout of the base. The base had all the facilities to support PT boats in addition to a post office and an outdoor movie theater. All facilities were housed in Quonset huts under palm trees. Our maintenance personnel were able to take care of almost anything that had to do with the boat.There was even a dry dock. We took advantage of the hot fresh-water showers and the food was good.

As we strolled around the base, we met many former buddies from stateside training who were there with other squadrons. The mood at the base was very friendly. Regarding celebrations, we didn’t participate in many social activities. In fact, you couldn’t even buy a beer to drink. It’s hard to estimate how many men were at the base, but when the 45 boats left for the invasion of the Philippines with our support personnel in tow, there weren’t too many people left behind.

PT 524 was well maintained and she was a dream to be at the wheel. With her outstanding speed and our armament we could face and defeat anything the Japs could throw at us.Our particular Squadron didn’t settle upon a name so the naming of the boats was at the discretion of the individual Skippers.

Many of the crew had had a chance to see the names and insignia of other PT boats. Skipper Wolf was from Texas. He wanted to call the 524 the “stud,” with the appropriate insignia to go with the name. Our Squadron Commander objected to the stud horse insignia with a torpedo between its legs so thoughts turned in other directions.

From the start our crew had adopted the expression "Bet Me," whenever anyone would doubt another’s word. This saying originated with the expression, "Do you want to bet on it?" Our crew thought this might be an appropriate name for our PT. In other words, the crew was betting their lives on the 524 against the Japs.

A delegation of the crew took the idea to the Skipper and he agreed this would be the 524’s name. An insignia of a Royal Flush of Spades was painted on the side of the cockpit and in no time the 524 became the 'Bet Me.'"

Photo courtesy the private collection of Walter Kundis.