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The Diary of a Naval Aviator
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Category: October, 1943

October 9, 1943 (Saturday)

October 9, 2018 1271941

New York City Saw Wally Jones’ parents. Lovely people. Felt so sorry for them.  Went to Toots Nolan’s in Englewood…

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October 8, 1943 (Friday)

October 8, 2018 1271941

New York City Saw Norm and Buff Chandler in the morning at the Park Avenue Ambassador. They loaned me their…

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October 7, 1943 (Thursday)

October 7, 2018 1271941

Washington Bad connections at Pittsburgh. Slept on leather bench in Washington Air Terminal overnight.  Pentagon Bldg. in morning before eight.…

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October 6, 1943 (Wednesday)

October 6, 2018 1271941

Chicago To Washington by night plane. 

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October 5, 1943 (Tuesday)

October 5, 2018 1271941

Chicago Arrived in Chicago one hour late on TWA to find Claire waiting for me. Saw her last on the…

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October 4, 1943 (Monday)

October 4, 2018 1271941

Yucca Loma Left in the morning for Chicago. 

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Oct. 3, 1943 (Sunday)

October 3, 2018 1271941

Yucca Loma There is no entry on this date as Nolan continues to grieve for his lost brother. In the…

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Oct. 2, 1943 (Saturday)

October 2, 2018 1271941

Yucca Loma There is no entry on this date as Nolan continues to grieve for his lost brother. In the…

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Oct. 1, 1943 (Friday)

October 1, 2018 1271941

Yucca Loma There is no entry on this date as Nolan continues to grieve for his lost brother. In the…

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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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