Ben Smith was a friend and roommate of Jack’s from Harvard. Also a Navy man, he had spent the war as a captain on Navy tenders in both the European and Pacific theatres.
They did not see each other during the war after meeting in Boston in December, 1941. In winter, 1944 he was stationed in Miami for training in destroyers and saw JFK in Palm Beach. He told a historian;
I saw Jack up at Palm Beach when we were in Miami. But, by that time, we had three children and I was a lot more domesticated than Jack and Torby. Jack had had his operation by then. His spirits were great, but his back really bothered him. I remember he did a lot of swimming and that he rested a lot. I met Red Fay up there. I didn’t particularly care of Fay. He was too loud.
[41, p. 404]