31 8/26/1944 Jim Erwin to Helen Carlson

Jim Erwin 497th Service Sqdn. 44th Service Group, APO 9898, NY Saturday, August 26, 1944

Helen Carlson 382 Robertsville Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Dear Helen, Just got up after a good rest. The rain made it fairly cool and it's my day off. Would like to start every day like this. Don't think I told you yet that last weekend I was in town and bought some things. I'll send the package to Mother and she can forward what I got for you. It's a house coat, robe or whatever they call them. Got one for Mother too. One is green, the other black. Write and tell Mom which one you would like. They both cost nearly twenty-five dollars which is probably three times too much but hope you'll like it. The handwork on the back is really lovely. It's nice that your mail is delivered now. Having to run to the post office each day is a lot of bother. The project Elmer is on must really be something. What ever it turns out to be, hope it helps get the war over in a hurry. Imagine there are plenty places to hide a bottle of liquor if a person wanted it bad enough. The guards there couldn't possibly check every car very closely. Don't get caught at it though. Hope you played tennis and had a lot of fun at it. You don't want to play too hard or very often. When I last saw you, were pretty thin even though the baby was on the way. Jimmie certainly must enjoy his playroom. He must be talking pretty good by now. Has he some little boys near by to play with? Has been eighteen months today for me in the Army. Most of the fellows have all been in longer than that but is plenty long for me. My beard is forty-five days old now and is long and red. Hope to get a picture taken of it before I take it off. A S/Sgt. moved into our tent a few days ago and went to the hospital this morning with malaria. He was really in a bad way last night This noon four of us paid five rupees in a pool. The last one to get malaria gets the money. It amounts to about five bucks. It's the same as money in my pocket. The Americans are going to town in Europe and the war shouldn't last long. Romania quitting should help too. The rest should give in soon. The Red Cross has a couple sets of monopoly so will probably go over and have a game this afternoon. I've seen the movie (Sahara) but will probably go again tonight anyway. Will close for now. With love, Jim