Skip to content

This Damn Navy

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

Category: January, 1942

Jan. 11, 1942 (Sunday)

January 11, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk, South Pacific Our waiter, José, is a card. He calls me “Lt. Cmdr. Shleem” and, with the…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 10, 1942 (Saturday)

January 10, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk, Tasman Sea Had a little trouble aboard ship last night. This damn merchant marine crew is typical…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 9, 1942 (Friday)

January 9, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk, Tasman Sea This war is going to decide the whole future of the human race. If the…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 8, 1942 (Thursday)

January 8, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk, Tasman Sea Ship pulled out at about 8:30 a.m. The farewells shouted ashore were spirited, and hundreds…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 7, 1942 (Wednesday)

January 7, 2017 1271941

Wellington, New Zealand Got ahore by 7:30 a.m. and took a cable car to the top hill above the town.…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 6, 1942 (Tuesday)

January 6, 2017 1271941

Wellington New Zealand The mountains of New Zealand took form out of the haze on the horizon a little after…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 5, 1942 (Monday)

January 5, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk, South Pacific Started to calm down a bit this noon although the winds seems just as strong…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

Jan. 4, 1942 (Sunday)

January 4, 2017 1271941

SS President Polk Wind and sea still heavy – Pendola says he’d trade everything he has for a bunk that’d…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 1942

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: January, 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