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Category: January, 1944

February 23, 1944 (Wednesday)

February 23, 2019 1271941

Piva Field, Bougainville Beautiful weather and nights, and no mosquitoes. Artillery pounding all night. Dive bombers working over Jap patrols…

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Posted in: January, 1944

January 31, 1944 (Monday)

January 31, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Took Commodore Fife to Milne Bay, New Guinea, where there must have been about 200 ships…

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Posted in: January, 1944

January 30, 1944 (Sunday)

January 30, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Ditto.

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January 29, 1944 (Saturday)

January 29, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Got desk cleared off. 

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Posted in: January, 1944

January 28, 1944 (Friday)

January 28, 2019 1271941

Henderson Field, Guadalcanal Thanked James Gardiner (Capt. USMC) for his help and return to Henderson with the Admiral this morning. 

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Posted in: January, 1944

January 27, 1944 (Thursday)

January 27, 2019 1271941

Munda Started for Piva Unit Strip (Bougainville) this morning but had a beauty of a tire blowout taxiing down the…

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Posted in: January, 1944

January 26, 1944 (Wednesday)

January 26, 2019 1271941

Munda Up to Munda this morning in the “24” with the Admiral. Hop to Treasury in the afternoon. A very…

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January 25, 1944 (Tuesday)

January 25, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Trip up the “slot” with the Admiral tomorrow. 

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January 24, 1944 (Monday)

January 24, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Return to home. 

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January 23, 1944 (Sunday)

January 23, 2019 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Tontouta to Button. Stayed overnight with ComFairSouth.

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Posted in: January, 1944

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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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