Skip to content

This Damn Navy

The Diary of a Naval Aviator
  • Home
  • About James Claire Nolan

Author: 1271941

September 10, 1942 (Tuesday)

September 10, 2017 1271941

Ford Island, Pearl Harbor  Decided to stay out at the house all day. Spent the morning helping to clean up…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 9, 1942 (Wednesday)

September 9, 2017 1271941

Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Barthes had many peculiar stories concerning the activities of the PBYs in the Solomons area to…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 8, 1942 (Tuesday)

September 8, 2017 1271941

Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Seems that we are definitely going to get B-24s — soon. Can’t believe it — and…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 7, 1942 (Monday)

September 7, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Returned to duty today after assuring Dr. Jensen that I’d take it easy for a week.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 6, 1942 (Sunday)

September 6, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor “Tex” Fondren departed from here this morning for convalescence in the States, along with a good…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 5, 1942 (Saturday)

September 5, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Cooper and I “snuck” over to Ford Island on our afternoon “walk” so that I could…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 4, 1942 (Friday)

September 4, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor I’m now eating below in the regular mess hall. The food tastes 100 percent better.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 3, 1942 (Thursday)

September 3, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Discarded wheelchair completely, after becoming involved in too many crashes due to my craving for speed.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 2, 1942 (Wednesday)

September 2, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Recovering rapidly.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

September 1, 1942 (Tuesday)

September 1, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Cooper and I were moved out onto the lanai today.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: September, 1942

Posts navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

A secret for 75 years

Kailua resident James Claire Nolan kept a secret most of his life. A Navy pilot during World War II, he kept a detailed diary and drew pictures throughout the conflict, a practice frowned upon by security-minded authorities. When he died in the early 1990s, he entrusted the pages to his friend and military historian Burl Burlingame of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Burlingame is now Historian at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

Trained as a navy bomber pilot, Nolan was rushed to the Dutch East Indies as war broke out and returned to Pearl Harbor, where he was pressed into service flying PBY “Catalina” flying boats on patrol.

Later, Nolan served with distinction at the battle of Midway, on Guadalcanal and became the personal pilot for Vice Adm. Aubrey Fitch. Nolan said his proudest moment came when in the summer of ’43 he discovered the slowly sinking bow of USS Helena, sheared off by a Japanese torpedo several days before and covered with desperate survivors. He stuck with the ship until help arrived.

After the war, Nolan joined the US Air Force and continued to fly. In civilian life, he was a historian at Hickam Air Force Base.

We are publishing these diary entries exactly 75 years to the day after these pages were written. Except for very minor spelling and grammatical updates, they are as written — including observations that may seem not “politically correct” these days. It is a look into the mindset of a young man fighting a war across a vast ocean.

This site will remain active for five years. It is sponsored by historical-interpretation company Pacific Monograph.

Categories

  • April, 1942
  • April, 1943
  • August, 1942
  • August, 1943
  • December, 1941
  • December, 1942
  • December, 1943
  • February, 1942
  • February, 1943
  • February, 1944
  • January, 1942
  • January, 1943
  • January, 1944
  • July, 1942
  • July, 1943
  • June, 1942
  • June, 1943
  • March, 1942
  • March, 1943
  • March, 1944
  • May, 1942
  • May, 1943
  • November, 1941
  • November, 1942
  • November, 1943
  • October, 1942
  • October, 1943
  • September, 1942
  • September, 1943
Copyright © 2025 This Damn Navy — Primer theme by GoDaddy