Bauer, Harold, LtCol

June 3
No flying today due to rain & overcast. Work continuing on the field (slowly) and on dispersals. Col. Fassett, 4th Def, had dinner with us tonite and a very delightful visit.
June 4
The powers that be down at Army Hdqtrs are still fussing around trying to figure out a way to help construct the airfield. They've called numerous conferences which have take up a lot of time, but as yet I see no results. Rec'd a secret dispatch from Beanie saying that he & his nine planes would not be ready to come over from Noumea tomorrow. The apparently haven't had time to put in the three rubber gas tanks.
June 5
Army called another big conference this a.m. in order to line up some trucks and some men, shovels, etc. for the air field. I am anxious to see the results--if any. Sent Wooley to Noumea in the Duck today to stay a few days and bring back some needed truck parts. Made arrangements to send a Sampan from here to Noumea to pick up our gear over there. Hope he can side step all the mines in the harbor. The word came in today about Dutch Harbor being attacked and also Midway. I'm betting they'll be sorry they made a pass at Midway.
June 6
After all the fuss, the Army finally sent out 4 2 1/2 T trucks and 47 men to help on the airfield. Now, they will probable expect it to be finished in a couple of more weeks. Heard today that the Midway affair is still going on and that they have at least one task force mixed up it it.
June 7
It rained all day today. It was rather a fortunate coincidence that Beanie didn't attempt the 9 plane flight from Noumea. He could never have found Efate' in the zere-zero we had all day. We welcome an occasional rain here for the purpose of settling the dust on and around the field. The radio brought us the very welcome and glad tidings of the U.S. Naval victory at and around Midway. It seems the fun always starts after I leave a place. Maybe the Japs have something in store for me here. Hope we get a decent Radar setup before the fracas starts because we are absolutely helpless without it. Sent a dispatch to Beanie telling him the weather would be O.K. tomorrow. It will be nice and quite a relief to have the whole outfit here.
June 8
Beanie showed up today with the remaining 9 planes. He came in right at noon after we had all given up him up. The boys all did a good job bringing them in. Looks as though we won't have near the trouble I anticipated. They seem to have profited greatly from the training in Noumea.
June 9
This was a miserable day. It rained steadily from morning till late at night. The radar was moved so we ran a continuous patrol all day just so we'd have some come back in case the Japs sprang an attack. Turned more Marines loose as bosses on the field to handle the Native labor. We noticed a considerable improvement. I felt poorly today. Had a splitting headache and felt lazy and weak. After a nap in the middle of the p.m. I felt much better. I find it is easy to overwork oneself in this climate. I handled a shovel all day yesterday clearing out drainage ditches and sort'a blame the exercise for my ill feeling.
June 10
The rain has mostly stopped. It is very merky overhead and we get an occasional sprinkle. We continued our constant patrol since the radar has not as yet been set up in its new location. Work on the field is progressing quite satisfactorily. Marine bosses on the Native labor seems to have turned the trick.
June 11
It started raining just before noon today and kept up steadily till dark. We ran our continuous two plane patrol since the radar is still out of commission. Work on the field is progressing at a very rapid pace. In fact, more has been accomplished since Monday than is any previous two weeks.
June 12
Today was a perfect sunshiny day. A lot of work was accomplished on the field. We maintained our constant 2 plane partol. The radar was reported as ready at 5 p.m. Heard two good pieces of news today. One was that no planes were caught on the ground at Midway--another was that the Jap fleet had been tracked down and nearly annihilated.
June 13
We did quite a bit of flying today--but without incident. We made quite extensive tests on the new radar position and found the results are about 500% better. I took a flight to investigate what had been reported as two airplanes beached on a small neighboring island. They turned out to be two outrigger canoes. Feeling in wonderful health these last few days.
June 14
Admiral Byrd and his party came in today to look over the situation here. He is on an inspection trip for the President and is making a thorough investigation of the bases, their strategical possibilities & limitations, supply, morale, health, etc. of the South Pacific area. Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that I was "with Bird" all day. I sounded off to him and expounded a few of my ideas and I must say he is the best listener I have ever had. He so enthusiastically agreed with me that he would slap the General on the knee and say, "See, there, what'd I tell ya, General?".
June 15
I was supposed to take the Admiral for a ride around the island in the SNJ-3 but he apparently changed his mind last night after I left him and decided to go to Santos (an island 200 mi. north) to look over the possibilities of a base up there. 2 kingfishers and the Duck made the trip. I made up a volumnous report on the situation here. I really aired my feelings and ideas. Started a little gunnery today. Intend to do some each day weather permits. It was announced officially that our fleet and ground based bombers had sunk 3 Carriers in the Coral Sea affair and 4 at Midway.
June 16
It is very surprising how fast the field is progressing. Everyone is working hard and continuously. The weather was mostly overcast today--making it difficult for gunnery but, nevertheless, we tried. The C.G. had Capt. Porter (Medico Chief), Cmdr. Hepburn (Naval Const.) & myself present at 5 p.m. for an informal meeting. It was pretty good for me since I came out of it with 3 trucks and a large diesel generator. The evening news told us that contact had been made with the Jap task force in the Aleutians and that considerable damage had been done. Our position here is becoming more secure each day.