May 11, 1942 (Monday)

Pearl Harbor

Drunks wandering all over the BOQ last night – the aftermath of that big station officers dance yesterday afternoon. Wish I hadn’t been out flying. The women from town were just as bad as this was one of their first opportunities to get any liquor since the war began.

My day off today. Try to make up a little back pool time, but I hadn’t been out an hour before started to rain – the first real rain I’ve seen here.

Last (Friday) all the paper blossomed out with the news of a big naval battle with the Japs in the Coral Sea (Northeast of Australia – was there last January myself.) – Sorry to have missed it. We seem to have had a couple of our carriers in it (for a change). Today the Japs admitted losing one of their carriers. Our forces say they sank one of the Japs outright, and left the other one ablaze from stem to stern. Altogether we are supposed to have sunk 18 assorted Jap ships, with no admitted loss to ourselves. About time we got in some licks at them.

Also today, the ARMY admitted raiding Tokyo!