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Category: October, 1943

October 26, 1943 (Tuesday)

October 26, 2018 1271941

San Diego Her family wants her to wait. Damn them! 

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 24, 1943 (Sunday)

October 24, 2018 1271941

San Diego Engaged to Claire McCahey. Asked her to come out and marry me now.

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 23, 1943 (Saturday)

October 23, 2018 1271941

San Diego Am to be Admiral Fitch’s (ComAirSoPac – Solomons) Flag Pilot. 

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 21, 1943 (Thursday)

October 21, 2018 1271941

San Diego With the help of Capt. Perry, Admiral Mitscher has recommended me for duty as Flag Pilot — excellent. 

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 19, 1943 (Tuesday)

October 19, 2018 1271941 2 Comments

San Diego Reported in to ComFair West Coast after a very trying 30 days leave. Am living at Trude sand…

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 16, 1943 (Saturday)

October 16, 2018 1271941

San Francisco On the train to Pasadena this night. 

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October 15, 1943 (Friday)

October 15, 2018 1271941

San Francisco Arrived in S.F. and went to Grams. 

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October 13, 1943 (Wednesday)

October 13, 2018 1271941

Chicago Spent the night at the McCaheys and out on the evening plane on the 14th for S.F. 

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October 11-13, 1943

October 11, 2018 1271941

Oskalusa, Iowa Spent most the time with Lynn and the baby. Poor kid. What a dismal hole this is. Back…

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Posted in: October, 1943

October 10, 1943 (Sunday)

October 10, 2018 1271941

New York to Chicago Left on early plane for Chicago. Dinner with the McCaheys. On the way to catch the…

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Posted in: October, 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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