JFK - The Action Figure!

The memory of slain President John F. Kennedy has often been larger than life. Now, a toy company will offer a chance to remember the president on a smaller scale: as an action figure.

A John F. Kennedy action figure in PT-109 fatigues will soon be part of a GI Joe collector's series celebrating American military heroes and famous battles.

The JFK figure will be the first of a number of Kennedy products that will be made under an agreement between the Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston and Hasbro, maker of GI Joe, said Wayne Charness, a Hasbro spokesman.

The fatigue-clad doll is shown using a knife to carve a message into a coconut shell. Its price is expected to be $30 to $35. No release date has been set.

Hasbro is offering to donate royalties to the library foundation. Neither Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro nor the foundation would give a dollar figure.

Kennedy was serving as a Navy lieutenant in the South Pacific in August 1943 when a Japanese destroyer rammed his small PT boat, a tiny, wooden reconnaissance and fast attack craft. The boat burned and sank.

Kennedy and his 10-man crew survived on a small island for seven days with help from native residents. Each night, Kennedy and other officers swam or paddled out into the ocean waters to try to signal friendly boats for help. They finally alerted rescue teams to the crew's location.

Kennedy was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps medal, and his exploits were retold in the movie PT-109. His status as a war hero helped propel his political career.