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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Category: August, 1943

August 20 to August 31, 1943

August 20, 2018 1271941 2 Comments

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Planes returning one by one from Guadal as 104 takes over. Squadron preparing to leave for Pearl…

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August 19, 1943 (Thursday)

August 19, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Hid this diary and other another interesting, but classified material, under the lining of my green bag.…

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August 18, 1943 (Wednesday)

August 18, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Departed for Button this noon in company with Joe Hall. Our two planes are the first group…

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August 17, 1943 (Tuesday)

August 17, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal No sign of VB 104. Overcast all day.

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August 16, 1943 (Monday)

August 16, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Afternoon at the beach. Knocked hell out of the Japs who came down to stop the…

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August 15, 1943 (Sunday)

August 15, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Yes, Vella Lavella. A force was landed there this morning. About 4,600 troops landed on SE…

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August 14, 1943 (Saturday)

August 14, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Patrolled 710 miles to Kapingamarangi. Negative, except for a 20’ lifeboat awash near Nuguria. Charlie was…

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August 13, 1943 (Friday)

August 13, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Still nothing positive on the whereabouts of VB-104. However morale is picking up with our relief…

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August 12, 1943 (Thursday)

August 12, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Rained most of the day. Mud. Got a letter from Noje written July 20, just after…

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August 11, 1943 (Wednesday)

August 11, 2018 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Rained most of the day. Porky Pig was slaughtered by his former benefactors after he scraped…

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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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