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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Category: March, 1942

March 31, 1942 (Tuesday)

March 31, 2017 1271941

San Francisco Forenoon saw us push through a drizzly fog into San Francisco Bay. Can hardly believe I’m back here.…

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Posted in: March, 1942

March 30, 1942 (Monday)

March 30, 2017 1271941

North Pacific Have just finished a truly magnificent book which has moved me deeply – “Wind, Sand and Stars” by…

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March 29, 1942 (Sunday)

March 29, 2017 1271941

North Pacific 280 miles off Baja California. 800 to go. Heard a funny story today concerning one of the medical…

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March 28, 1942 (Saturday)

March 28, 2017 1271941

North Pacific Definitely cooler.

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March 27, 1942 (Friday)

March 27, 2017 1271941

North Pacific Overcast and slightly cooler. Low fogs. Seem to changed course – San Diego?

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March 26, 1942 (Thursday)

March 26, 2017 1271941

North Pacific Crossed the equator about 0830 this morning.

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March 25, 1942 (Wednesday)

March 25, 2017 1271941

South Pacific Pillsbury “officially” announced sunk near Bali.

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March 24, 1942 (Tuesday)

March 24, 2017 1271941

South Pacific Am reading four books at once: “The War in the Air Volume VI” – AJ Jones. “The Zaca…

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March 23, 1942 (Monday)

March 23, 2017 1271941

South Pacific Passed Pitcairn’s Island 80 miles to starboard at 0200 this morning. This ship, which left the U.S. last…

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March 22, 1942 (Sunday)

March 22, 2017 1271941

South Pacific Vichy radio says Jap invasion fleet is headed for Perth, Western Australia. What does Vichy know about it?…

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Posted in: March, 1942

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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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