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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Author: 1271941

August 31, 1942 (Monday)

August 31, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Twenty-two wounded Marine officers from the Solomons landings are supposed to show up here one of…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 30, 1942 (Sunday)

August 30, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor The war seems to be getting along fairly well without me. Had a terrific argument today…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 29, 1942 (Saturday)

August 29, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Headache getting better. There is one quite pretty nurse here by the name of Miss Albers.…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 28, 1942 (Friday)

August 28, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Two other squadron members are in here with me. Oliver is here recovering from pneumonia and…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 27, 1942 (Thursday)

August 27, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor This damned spinal, while pleasant during the operation, left me with one hell of a headache…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 26, 1942 (Tuesday)

August 26, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Ortwin dropped in this afternoon to tell me that he was leaving for the Southwest tomorrow…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 25, 1942 (Tuesday)

August 24, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Another “j.g.” in my room, who was operated on two days ahead of me for an…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 24, 1942 (Monday)

1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor My plane and crew shoved off this morning with Quinn as the PPC. Odell, who is…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 23, 1942 (Sunday)

August 23, 2017 1271941

Navy Hospital, Pearl Harbor Am leaving my second diary and my cruise box, stored in the New BOQ, Ford Island,…

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Posted in: August, 1942

August 22, 1942 (Saturday)

August 22, 2017 1271941

Four hour bombing hop this morning. Had to raise hell with several senior officers at Air Intelligence to get my…

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Posted in: August, 1942

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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.

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