“He is very cool, calm, level headed and steady.” These words, written in 1936 by a flight instructor at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida, characterized Aviation Cadet Harry W. Harrison. In 1943-1944, he had to rely on each of these attributes as he led men into combat. Harrison's wartime diary, in which he documented service in Fighting Squadron (VF) 5 and command of VF-6, captures the excitement of air combat in the first campaigns of the Central Pacific offensive as well as the experience of enduring enemy air attacks at sea.
Read entries from the wartime diary of Harry W. Harrison
July 1943- To sea
August 2-3, 1943- The hazards of carrier aviation
August 30-31, 1943- First combat
November 11, 1943- Strike on Rabaul
November 20, 1943- Torpedo off the starboard quarter
November 27, 1943- The devastation on Tarawa
January 29, 1944- Strike on Kwajalein
February 1944- Intrepid takes a fish
February-March 1944- Homeward bound