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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Category: March, 1944

March 21, 1944 (Tuesday)

March 21, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Took Adm’l. Fitch and Gen’l. Harmon (“Jr.”) up to the Green Island fighter strip (5000 feet)…

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Posted in: March, 1944

March 20, 1944 (Monday)

March 20, 2019 1271941

Piva Uncle Field, Bougainville Today was the payoff! In the middle of the night I received by devious channels a…

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Posted in: March, 1944

March 19, 1944 (Sunday)

March 19, 2019 1271941

Piva Uncle Field, Bougainville Took Adm’ls. Halsey, Fitch and Carney and Gen’l. Riley to Piva U today. The area was…

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March 18, 1944 (Saturday)

March 18, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Wendy Suydam dropped by to say goodbye to me. The poor devil is finally going home…

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March 17, 1944 (Friday)

March 17, 2019 1271941

Nouméa, New Caledonia Loaded 67 cases of liquor, one Major and one Commodore (Smith) aboard and we returned to Henderson.…

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March 16, 1944 (Thursday)

March 16, 2019 1271941

Nouméa, New Caledonia Took Burke down to Nouméa today. As he was 10 minutes late for takeoff I gave him…

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March 15, 1944 (Wednesday)

March 15, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal General Mitchell arrived at noon today with Dave Gardiner. The General has just been relieved as…

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March 14, 1944 (Tuesday)

March 14, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Took Gen’l Murray to Treasury and back via Munda, in the PB4Y. The General told the…

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March 13, 1944 (Monday)

March 13, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Weather becoming better steadily. The rainy season is just about past.  A big fire this morning.…

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March 12, 1944 (Sunday)

March 12, 2019 1271941

“Cactus,” Carney Field, Guadalcanal Took PB4Y out on an “aerial picnic” with most of the Utility Unit along. They were…

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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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