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Category: May, 1942

May 31, 1942 (Sunday)

May 31, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Things are getting more tense. About half of our planes are up at Midway, along with everything else…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 30, 1942 (Saturday)

May 30, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Orders reach the squadron this morning making Cooper, Fleming, and myself Lieutenants, Junior Grade! Makes me feel mighty…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 29, 1942 (Friday)

May 29, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Had the duty today, but didn’t break my neck on it. Couple carrier groups arrive from the East…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 28, 1942 (Wednesday)

May 28, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor This damn hole in my jaw is killing me – yeeoww! Didn’t take my usual patrol today, due…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 27, 1942 (Wednesday)

May 27, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Had a wisdom tooth chiseled out of my lower job today. Blood and bone chips all over the…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 26, 1942 (Tuesday)

May 26, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Task force pulled in this noon – Hornet and Enterprise – are they in from the Coral Sea?…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 25, 1942 (Monday)

May 25, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Another patrol – West – just my luck, seeing that a returning task force is coming into the…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 24, 1942 (Sunday)

May 24, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Swam two lengths of the tank underwater again this morning – to prove it some doubters that I…

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 23, 1942 (Saturday)

May 23, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Was duty officer today.

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Posted in: May, 1942

May 22, 1942 (Friday)

May 22, 2017 1271941

Pearl Harbor Patrol today. Southwest. Nothing.

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Posted in: May, 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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