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Category: March, 1943

March 31, 1943 (Wednesday)

March 31, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Patrolled only 700 miles NW toward Pocklington Reef. Bad weather at the end of the leg. Returning…

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Posted in: March, 1943

March 30, 1943 (Tuesday)

March 30, 2018 1271941

Every evening lately we are beset by millions of gnats who swarm in through the screens. This occasions much frantic…

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Posted in: March, 1943

March 29, 1943 (Monday)

March 29, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Read a biography of G.B. Shaw. Did laundry and later went to the “O” Club for a…

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Posted in: March, 1943

March 28, 1943 (Sunday)

March 28, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Patrol to Ontong Java and Rekata. Passed along SW coast of Malaita on the way back. Not…

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March 27, 1943 (Saturday)

March 27, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo More rain. More mud. Have noticed a slowly growing dull pain in my stomach for the past…

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Posted in: March, 1943

March 26, 1943 (Friday)

March 26, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Rain, rain and mud.

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March 25, 1943 (Thursday)

March 25, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Take off for patrol this morning delayed by the ceaseless deluge (48 hours). Was turned back about…

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March 24, 1943 (Wednesday)

March 24, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Saw a very wonderful movie this evening. “Random Harvest” with Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman. It moved…

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March 23, 1943 (Tuesday)

March 23, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Were all awakened last night by the crash of falling trees (rotten) in a high wind. One…

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March 22, 1943 (Monday)

March 22, 2018 1271941

“Button,” Espiritu Santo Patrol today. Got almost to the Stewart Islands before I was forced back by the weather, which…

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Posted in: March, 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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