It's been 65 years since the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in World War II, one of the biggest naval battles in history.

Walter Kundis, who now is 84 and lives in Mililani, was on a Navy PT boat during the Oct. 23-26 engagement, and he's lucky to have survived 1944 and the famous sea battle at all.

Early on the morning of Oct. 25, six of the 80-foot wooden-hulled PT boats were ordered out to fire torpedos at Imperial Japanese Navy ships steaming toward the Surigao Strait.

"We knew there were a couple (of Japanese ships). We weren't sure how many battleships or anything like that," said Kundis, who was a 19-year-old gunnersmate on PT 524.

When the 524 and two other PTs that were part of Squadron 36 had closed to within a mile, enemy star shells silhouetted what they were up against: six ships with some of the greatest firepower Japan could bring to bear.

Kundis laughs about it now.

"There were three PT boats attacking two Japanese battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers. They should have realized that they were outnumbered as far as we were concerned," he said.

The PTs, "patrol torpedo" boats, were designed as an inexpensive weapon whose torpedos could destroy a capital ship.

The 80-foot Elco boats were just over 20 feet wide and constructed from two layered 1-inch-thick mahogany planks.

Kundis was part of a 14-man crew.

The PT 524 carried two torpedos as it raced toward the Japanese fleet.

All three boats let loose at the leading battleship, the Yamashiro, when the PTs were about 1,000 yards away.

Kundis' battle station during the attack was the port side torpedo, and in pulling the lever to release it, he almost fell into the sea. Another crew member spotted him going over the side and pulled him back aboard.

Kundis said the PTs were spotted once the torpedos were fired.

The weapons didn't score a hit on the battleship, but neither did the enemy's 5-, 6-, and 14-inch guns find their mark on the retreating PT boats.

Some of the shells landed "pretty close," Kundis said. "It was exciting, so to speak."

The Battle of Leyte Gulf actually included four major engagements.

When it was over, Japan had suffered another crippling blow, with more than 10,000 dead and the loss of 27 warships.

Kundis, who took PT 524 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the South Pacific and stayed with the boat through the war, had another brush with history.

PT 524 transported Philippines President Sergio Osmena to Leyte alongside PT 525 with Gen. Douglas MacArthur aboard on his return to the Philippines in October 1944, Kundis said.