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Category: January, 1943

January 31, 1943 (Sunday)

January 31, 2018 1271941 1 Comment

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Rest day. Slept most of the morning. Went for a ride in the Jeep in the afternoon.…

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Posted in: January, 1943

January 30, 1943 (Saturday)

January 30, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Patrol north again today. 016 to 022 True. 800 miles. Nothing sighted despite passing about 100 miles…

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Posted in: January, 1943

January 29, 1943 (Friday)

January 29, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo “Standbye day.” Layed around most of the day and listened to a few stories. When the first…

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Posted in: January, 1943

January 28, 1943 (Thursday) 

January 28, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Noticed yesterday before I took off in the morning that the Japs were jamming the Navy voice…

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Posted in: January, 1943

January 27, 1943 (Wednesday)

January 27, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Wondered several times today whether I’d ever get around to writing this. Well, to start with, a…

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Posted in: January, 1943

January 26, 1943 (Tuesday)

January 26, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Practice fighter attack again this morning. “Snuffy” Wagner led at a “perfect” speed and I had no…

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January 25, 1943 (Monday) 

January 25, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Morning hop called off because the tow-plane pilots (VJ-2) are both down with dysentery, as are a…

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January 24, 1943 (Sunday) 

January 24, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Formation bombing again this morning with “Biscuit.” Pretty fair. Did a stack of my own laundry after…

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January 23 1943 (Saturday) 

January 23, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo Force moved into Munda this afternoon and evening to batter it into “disuse.” Planes worked it over…

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January 22, 1943 (Friday)

January 22, 2018 1271941

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo We are trying to get another gun into the bow of our planes. There are three “fifties”…

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Posted in: January, 1943

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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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