Pearl Harbor

Up most of the night. Slept all of forenoon.

Yesterday’s task force returned this afternoon — only a dummy run.

Out at the pool this afternoon there was a very pretty young girl with a superb figure. The looks on the faces of the 20 or 30 officers present was truly extraordinary — everyone, in varying degrees, never taking their eyes from her, reflected a hunger and frustration that was pitiful. I can’t say that I myself wasn’t affected similarly, and I felt very disturbed the rest of the afternoon. Here I am, almost 25 years old and I (along with thousands of others like me) am denied still the kind of life for which nature intended me. Damn this civilization! The sense of frustration that seizes me at times is horrible.

Today marks my fifth year in the U.S. Navy. It was on July 16, 1937, that I entered the US Naval Academy at Annapolis – and today I repeat, “Damn the place!”