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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Author: 1271941

Jan. 3, 1942 (Saturday)

January 3, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk This day is hereby relegated to limbo! It is nonexistent – it is lost in space. We…

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Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 2, 1942, (Friday)

January 2, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk Wind and seas increased throughout the night. Wind, from the Northwest – cool – 35 to 45…

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Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 1, 1942 (Thursday)

January 1, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk Position approximately hundred and 50° West, 35° South, course approximately 255° aboard SS President Polk headed for…

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Posted in: January, 1942

Dec. 31, 1941 (Wednesday)

December 31, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Last day of 1941 – it’s been quite a year. This day last year, I left Seattle,…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 30, 1941 (Tuesday)

December 30, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Foggy, but cleared toward noon. Had an alarm at noontime when someone on the bridge thought he…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 29, 1941 (Monday)

December 29, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Beautiful clear day. It’s become distinctly cooler the last few days, making sleeping at night quite comfortable.…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 28, 1941 (Sunday)

December 28, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Heavy tropical rains this morning. Went out on deck, just forward of our cabin, with Pendola, and…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 27, 1941 (Saturday)

December 27, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Nine days out and still headed due south. We are approaching the vicinity of Pitcairn’s Island, of…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 26, 1941 (Friday)

December 26, 2016 1271941

S.S. President Polk Rumors fly thick and fast around the ship. This morning the word was around that Manila had…

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Posted in: December, 1941

Dec. 25, 1941 (Thursday)

December 25, 2016 1271941

Xmas! S.S. President Polk Crossed the equator last night around midnight, at about 2,700 nautical miles off Ecuador – still…

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Posted in: December, 1941

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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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