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Category: June, 1943

June 10, 1943 (Thursday)

June 10, 2018 1271941 2 Comments

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Moffett, Glanz, Beswick, Hall, and Suydam took off for Tontouta and Nouméa this morning for three or…

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Posted in: June, 1943

June 9, 1943 (Wednesday)

June 9, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Weather North of here yesterday was very bad. Pete Kooy came within an ace of running ramming…

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Posted in: June, 1943

June 8, 1943 (Tuesday)

June 8, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Read Time and new pocket-size Omnibook all day. Vincent Sheehan’s “Between The Thunder and The Sun” is…

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June 7, 1943 (Monday)

June 7, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Patrolled 750 miles NE today. Results negative. Some self-swelled PATSU chief took it upon himself to put…

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June 6, 1943 (Sunday)

June 6, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Went to bed last night meaning to go to Mass this morning and then forgot all about…

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June 5, 1943 (Saturday)

June 5, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo The Japs seem to be giving most of our coastwatchers in the Solomons a rough time lately.…

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June 4, 1943 (Friday)

June 4, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Heard today that the Japs have coastwatchers on San Cristobal Island (south of Guadalcanal). They’re sending out…

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June 3, 1943 (Thursday)

June 3, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Went to the O Club yesterday afternoon and got mildly polluted on beer (it doesn’t take much…

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June 2, 1943 (Wednesday)

June 2, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Had patrol standbye (something new) today, and, as “Biscuit” Beswick came in superbly boiled last night, I…

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June 1, 1943 (Tuesday)

June 1, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Did laundry, wrote some letters, and read Harper’s, Omnibook, and Time. The May issue of Reader’s Digest,…

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Posted in: June, 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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